Siskel & Ebert used to sometimes change movie reviews, and they’d come back later and say “Well, I had a fight with my wife before I saw ‘Unforgiven’ so I wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I initially gave it a bad review.”
I call hogwash on that. An example is this movie. I’m a migraine sufferer, and one came on right before this movie started. Yet I sat through it (with my wife whispering, “We can go if you want,” as I held my head with both hands).
I’m a dog lover though, so I just powered through it.
It’s cheesy, it’s got cliches, but it also has a doggy!
The true story was about a Swedish adventure racer in Ecuador, but this version (“based on a true story”), has an American (Mark Wahlberg) in a race in the Dominican Republic.
Writer Michael Brandt adapted the remake of “3:10 to Yuma” (a terrific Western) and he tackles the novel “Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home.”
Michael has been out of the race game for a few years. His wife Helena (Juliet Rylance) used to race, but she’s content to jog around their neighborhood and raise their young daughter. He’s still itching to race, and not just finish in the Top 10, but actually win a race for once. Especially since he’s not getting much satisfaction working real estate with his successful dad (Paul Guilfoyle from L.A. Confidential).
With his wife’s encouragement (and money), he gets the band back together. That’s tough to do with Leo (Simu Liu, whom I loved in “Kim’s Convenience” and “Shang-Chi,” not as much as a Ken in Barbie). He got mad at Michael the last time they raced (even posting an embarrassing photo of him stuck in the mud). Leo is modeling and has a clothing brand that’s doing well. Michael brings in a champ (Ali Suliman) who was recently cut from his team for a bum knee. He brings in a young climber, Olivia (Nathalie Emmanuel from “Furious 7”). She’s the daughter of a successful climber, and we get some amazing cinematography early on to show she’s a chip off the old block. We’ll get another scene later with her and Michael on a zip line that had the entire audience on the edge of our seats.
Getting a team was a lot easier than getting a sponsor, but he eventually does, and off they go.
Director Simon Cellan Jones (The Family Plan) showed us the shaggy dog living on the streets and trying to find scraps of food, and avoid other angry, territorial mutts. I think those segments could’ve been done in a more interesting way.
Once the race begins, the meet/cute happens. The dog ends up in a resting area of the race, and Michael gives it one of his meatballs. As the dog follows them around, the news starts covering the animal’s adventures. The dog and Michael have a parallel story which really helps develop the characters a bit.
There are over 50 teams, and soon, Team Broadrail is in the front of the pack. Sometimes the dog helps them on their trek, other times, he becomes a burden.
Obviously, anyone over the age of 12 will know exactly what’s going to happen with this rag-tag group of racers, but it doesn’t mean you don’t get teary-eyed watching it all unfold. And when you watch Michael talking to the dog, and the eye contact, your heart melts.
I’m not sure why it’s PG-13, as it’s a movie the whole family will enjoy.
And yes, there are a few vomit scenes, because 83% of movies have to have them (yet when I see some of the heights they go to, and what they’re putting their bodies through, it actually makes sense).
I give it 3 paws out of 5.