You pretty much gave away the plot/ending but how did YOU like the movie - you didn't mention that???
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
The trailer said it was based upon a true story, so naturally I looked it up before I saw the movie. Sorry about the spoiler, I had thought this was obviously a sort of lightweight, pleasant dog yarn. It ain’t like Arthur was gonna get rabies like Ol’ Yeller and have to be shot.
I know that dogs can cover great distances, I once ran my ordinary heeler mutts (when they were alive) twenty miles off leash next to my bicycle which seemed no big deal to them. I’ve also read of a stray dog in Iraq that tracked a US armor unit that had fed it sixty miles across the desert (one guy eventually brung it back to the US). What is unexplained in the movie is how the dog found them after a -100 mile road bike section and another where they zip line across a deep canyon leaving no scent trail at all.
The real Arthur in Ecuador IIRC had followed at least two foreign expeditions at least twice before, not of the nature of an adventure race but apparently was generally familiar with the terrain.
Also, what you don’t get in this movie is a sense of the extreme physical strain on the human competitors, they cover extraordinary distances at a pace even an old-time Apache would find difficult. The actors are in shape of course but it doesn’t seem like they were put into a boot camp for a couple of months before or anything.
Not much dramatic tension in the movie, cliched incidents. Needs a reshoot focusing on the hardships of the race, just having the dog keep up with them would be enough, along with explanations showing how the dog solved the problems of finding them again.
On the plus side, I’m sure there ain’t much beyond what was pictured, but the forested Dominican mountain scenery was extraordinary, especially given it shares the island with Haiti. I was also impressed with the realistic depiction of Santo Domingo, the capital city of that nation.
