Credit: Netflix

It was almost impossible for that fluffy little scene-stealer not to nick everyone’s hearts and thoroughly overshadow Mark Wahlberg in Arthur the King, now one of Netflix’s top ten movies this week.

Really, the moment Arthur comes padding into the story looking scruffy and wounded, you just know Wahlberg has lost the battle for our attention. Sorry, Mark, nothing personal, but you just cannot compete with a dog.

The lovely thing is, Arthur’s extraordinary story did not begin in some screenwriter’s imagination. He was born out of a story about a real dog who attached himself to Swedish adventure racer Mikael Lindnord during the 2014 Adventure Racing World Championship in Ecuador. He gave the exhausted animal some meatballs during a rest stop, and Arthur immediately became friends, proceeding to follow the team for roughly 100 miles through forests.

And then, because apparently following them across land wasn’t dramatic enough, Arthur jumped into the water and started swimming after them when the team set off on a kayaking section. Come on, by that point, you are adopting the dog; even a cynophobe would melt.

Arthur the King turns Lindnord into Michael Light, played by Wahlberg, a veteran adventure racer who is still obsessed with winning after previous failures. He puts together another team and heads into a race involving every possible activity from trekking to cycling, climbing and kayaking because just one endurance sport is never enough!

Guess who decides to show up? That’s right, it’s Arthur. Michael feeds him, and Arthur follows! That’s all. Before long, the dog becomes an unofficial fifth teammate and, in a change of heart, Michael starts caring about something more than winning. When Arthur attempts to swim after the racers during the kayaking stage, Michael turns back to save him, thus sacrificing crucial time and, ultimately, his shot at first place.

Yes, the symbolism is about as subtle as a brick through a window, but none of that matters once you live that story yourself. And if you’ve watched the film, you might recall your heart practically melting at that point, and if not, be prepared.

The real Arthur eventually moved to Sweden with Lindnord and lived with his family until his death in 2020. There was, however, a slightly awkward wrinkle: an Ecuadorian man later claimed Arthur was actually his dog, Barbuncho. What a sad little ending to an otherwise beautiful story; however, for us, it ends when Lindnord adopted Arthur.

Director Simon Cellan Jones knew the nerve of the viewers and made sure to press all the right points. Arthur the King has all the elements for a perfectly emotional film. A sprinkle of redemption and a dash of endurance, with inspirational suffering being the key ingredient, but none of them is the real weapon.

The weapon is Arthur. You may think you’ve come for Mark Wahlberg, then that bedraggled little dog looks at him once, and frankly, it’s game over for all of us (including Wahlberg).