The only thing I knew about Arthur the King was that it was a dog movie starring Mark Wahlberg. What I didn’t know or expect was that they’d try to make me give a dog’s wiggly butt about adventure racing. And, indeed, the whole movie was one long adventure race. One that I was just not into… at least until the movie pulled a fast one and showed me something I’d never seen.

That thing was a harrowing – if suspect – race down a zipline. I’ve seen ziplines, I’ve seen bike races, but I’ve never seen this. And that kind of got my attention. The race was never great but it was, at least, interesting.

But where was the dog? It was like going to see a Fast and Furious movie and getting a scintillating drama about tax preparation. There was a dog in the background and by the way the film cut back and forth between Wahlberg desperately trying to get sponsors for his amazing race and a street dog in the Dominican Republic, I figured the plots had to converge. Eventually.

But those plots took their time to merge and when they did I was skeptical. Really? Add a dog to a five day footrace and make it believable?

But, goddamn it, they did it. I eventually cared about whether they’d win or lose and if the dog would keep up. And then whether this very sick dog would be ok. In that I was unsure was a testament to the filmmaking that I couldn’t deny. I’d been suckered, bamboozled, highjacked by some very blatant emotional manipulation.

Turns out, I’m not a monster. I liked this movie almost despite its best efforts to make me dismiss it. Did I come away with a newfound appreciation of adventure racing? No… but I was into it in the moment. Do I love dogs more? Not sure that’s possible but I respected the emotional gutpunch. This is a good flick, cynicism aside.

Score: 81