Mark Wahlberg and an adorable dog named Ukai star in the movie Arthur the King, a true-life tale based on Mikael Lindnord’s 2016 memoir “Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home.”
Not everything about the movie is true to the real story – the real Mikael is Swedish and not American – but some of it is close to the real version of events.
But what about the ending? In this article, we briefly recap the movie and ask the question: How close is the ending to the real-life story?
Arthur the King – Plot Summary
Arthur the King tells the story of Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg), an adventure racer who we see lose one race at the beginning of the movie when he gets stuck in the mud during his trek.
A few years later, Michael and his team compete again in a race that takes them into the heart of the Dominican Republic. During the arduous event, Michael meets Arthur, a stray dog, who is hungry for food. Michael feeds Arthur and then continues on in the competition.
Michael and his team race by bike, kayak, and on foot as they navigate the harsh terrain of their course. After a while, they discover they have a new teammate – Arthur, who has somehow managed to follow them into the jungle.
Arthur presses on with the team, despite his fragile condition. Eventually, they take the lead and are a dead cert for a first-place finish. But when they prepare to cross a large stretch of water, they are told by race officials that they can’t take Arthur with them on the boats.
The team make the decision to leave Arthur on the shoreline while they continue onwards. But Arthur isn’t about to lose his place on the team. When Michael and his team near victory, they spot Arthur swimming in the water behind them. The dog is likely to drown, so Michael makes the decision to stop mid-race and head back to pick up Arthur.
This decision loses the team their first-place spot but they still come in second. Shortly after, Arthur falls seriously ill, due to a wound that has become infested with maggots.
Michael takes Arthur to a small-town vet, who isn’t able to give Arthur the treatment he needs. Michael’s only option is to take his four-legged teammate back to America for treatment, which he does, but not before a battle with border agents who initially refuse to let Arthur travel.
Thanks to the financial support of well-wishers, who have followed Arthur’s story, Michael is able to pay for Arthur’s medical treatment. We then cut to 18 months later where we see Michael and Arthur trekking together through the Colorado Mountains. It’s a happy ending. But is it close to real events?
How true is Arthur the King to the real-life story?
Some of what happens in the movie isn’t true. For one thing, the real-life endurance race took place in the jungles and mountains of South Ecuador and not the Dominican Republic.
In the movie, there’s a scene where Arthur stops the adventure team from falling off the edge of a cliff by barking to warn them of danger. In real life, the team did get dangerously close to a cliff edge but it wasn’t Arthur who saved them from a nasty fall but a breeze that indicated they were close to a steep drop.
Other parts of the movie are true. For example, Mikael Lindnord, the Swedish adventure racer who discovered Arthur, did give him food after noticing he looked unwell. Arthur then followed Mikael into the wilderness and became a valuable part of his team.
Also true is the fact that Arthur swam after Mikael and his crew when they took to the water in kayaks. Mikael stopped to rescue Arthur, a decision that resulted in them finishing the race in 12th place and not 2nd, as happens in the movie.
How close is the ending to the real-life story?
The real-life Arthur was dangerously ill following the endurance race. But when the team launched a Twitter campaign, Mikael was able to take Arthur home to Sweden where he received treatment for the wounds on his back.
As such, other than the change in location, this is pretty much what happens in the movie.
At the end of the movie, we see Mike and Arthur enjoying life in the Colorado Mountains. In real life, Arthur and Mikael also bonded and spent several years in each other’s company.
Sadly, the real Arthur passed away in 2020, around the time Mikael was approached about turning his memoir into a movie. Arthur died in the veterinarian’s office, just after giving Mikael one last kiss. (source)
Arthur’s death is a tragic one. But at least his final few years were happy ones, thanks to the intervention of Mikael who rescued him from homelessness and gave him the life he deserved.
Read More: Arthur the King Movie Review