(minor spoilers)
Honestly, this movie had so many areas where it was just a total miss. There were a ton of awkward pauses where the dialogue should have just kept going. The family dynamics were cheesy and the scene right at the beginning where he is fighting with his father felt really out of place in the film because it never comes up again, especially because the dad makes some sort of comment about Micheal and his wife having problems which never comes up again either. The wife in question was also a complete Mary Sue. I get what they were trying to do showing a supportive wife but it didn't work.
A lot of the characters/actors didn't show emotion well and it felt very bland. Not to mention the dreaded zip line scene. It did not need to take that long. And the like, almost minute long pause after Olivia makes the announcement about her Dad. It just felt super awkward and out of place. Even if it did happen that way in real life it didn't translate well. It felt more like a director/writer issue than the actress herself.
If they cut out the constant pauses between action and dialogue and instead added those breaks to the more emotional scenes between Micheal and Arthur at the end it would have been more engaging.
Don't even get me started on the vet care in this movie, it felt really unrealistic as someone who works in vet med. And the acting was just so over the top.
And lastly, they pulled the same stupid trick THREE times where it cuts to black and were just supposed to 'wonder if Arthur is alive or not', and then bam he shows up all happy as he enters the frame. Like once at the end would have been fine but three times felt like a joke from a parody of your stereotypical dog movie.
The action wasn't bad and the scene where they turned around for the dog was done fairly well despite being a little cheesy, and the scene at the end where the dog crosses the finish line was cute. As well as the pictures showing that Micheal and Arthur are unknowingly getting famous were fine. There's just so much holding this film back that it wasn't enjoyable.