Images courtesy of A24
THE LEGEND OF OCHI– 4 STARS
Take it from this elementary school teacher by day. No matter the generation, kids are occasionally hard to impress in the fantasy department. Unless you’re talking about the universality of The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, the selections that have become cherished favorites tend to start from relatable settings as an anchor. Inhabit something too distant or too antiquated from what a young person can go out and see in their own world, and it’s a tough sell. Despite its wondrous youth-centered imagination, A24’s artful new odyssey, The Legend of Ochi, veers outside of the usual comfort zone.
Dropping an homage to the pulp science fiction of H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Legend of Ochi takes place on the fictional island of Carpathia in the Black Sea. Oral history, religious roots, and storybook legends in Carpathia describe an untamed island rife with bears, wolves, beasts, and demons. Chief among them is the mysterious “ochi,” living in the forests and caves of the geography. The long-tailed creatures—about the size of large chimpanzees—with blueish skin under their spiky hair are dexterous, bounding on the ground and leaping through the coniferous canopy. They are defined by their disorienting chirping howl (let’s call it “chowling” for fun) that signals their presence and echoes through the hills and valleys.
The ochi have been known to come down to the outskirts of the villages and poach livestock, leading to their image as societal menaces and camoflauged dangers to all citizens. Screen legend Willem Dafoe plays Maxim, a local elder leading an at-the-ready hunting and defense party comprised of teens submitted from broken homes for toughening up. Living as a single father, his own two children are on the roster—son Petro (current Ghostbuster Finn Wolfhard), the clear heir apparent to this heroic family tradition, and rookie daughter Yuri (Helena Zengel of News of the World), joining the squad for the first time.
LESSON #1: EVEN MONSTERS COME FROM BABIES— As Maxim presents his daughter with a pocket knife said to be from her grandfather, Yuri confesses she’s never seen an ochi before. At that moment during the introduction, the movie shifts to show the point of view of a pack of ochi, including a perceptive cub being tended to by its parents. The introduction of this cute little bugger calls to mind the classic Pixar animated short Partly Cloudy demonstrating that even animals we consider heinous monsters start as clingy and innocent babies. Without the human threat bearing down on them, the ochi seem familial and docile, far from the demons they are made out to be.
LESSON #2: MAKE SOMETHING OF YOURSELF– Truth be damned, Maxim, with his “toy soldiers” in tow, is out to eradicate any ochi that come close to the community. Speechifying “I am here to make something of you” to the group, he trains these conscripted teens with rifles and spears for future glory. The inclusion of impressionable teens in his cause is meant to be a character-building endeavor. That, too, to a modern kid, is an unappealing proposition, and, sure enough, Yuri is quickly seen as someone less committed to the potential violence of the job.
While sent out to check the outlying traps, Yuri finds a bloody trail leading to a baby ochi injured by a jawed clamp and cornered in a tree hollow, hissing at anything or anyone that comes close. With a combination of fascination and pity, she frees the little one and secretly brings it back to her house to treat the wound further. Using a pair of fake plastic vampire teeth to match the fanged visage of the creature and finding a shared affinity for caterpillars, Yuri shucks the propaganda, as the two previously destined enemies create a warm and mutually protective kinship.
LESSON #3: ALL BEINGS WANT TO GO HOME– When Petro discovers what his sister has taken and done, she goes on the run to see that the ochi youngling makes it back to its home. Following their trail, the jaded and fanatical Maxim dusts off the ancestral armor and shifts to rescue mode, convinced it’s Yuri who has become a captive. Meanwhile, Yuri’s estranged mother Dasha, a shepherd living in the wild, played by Oscar nominee Emily Watson, comes to her daughter’s aid, adding to her shifting mindset of empathy and setting her on her own route towards Lesson #2. Call it careful and relatable simplicity, as The Legend of Ochi leans on the instinctual need all beings want to be home in their habitats with their families. That tenet fights against the other human nature trait to hunt and conquer animals as lesser beings. This is the best universal entry point the film has for connecting to curious viewers.
If that’s not enough, there’s the adorable central animal. Created with a combination of puppetry and light VFX, every audible twitch and sniffle is married to the cuddly and dynamic character design. By showing itself to have far more intelligence and kindness than foretold, the rescued tike is more than merely a mascot in The Legend of Ochi. Still, if this were a Disney entry and not an A24 film, plush replicas would be everywhere, and that wouldn’t be a terrible thing. Not that Yuri would, in turn, become the next Disney princess, but Helena Zengel deserves the same enduring appreciation as a heroine channeling all sorts of brave and defiant spunk.
Regrettably, there are some mismatched elements and a saggy second act where our girl and her new friend are separated for a short time. Once reunited, The Legend of Ochi finally accelerates the peril and value of the mythic quest all the way to the finish. In one of the best and most complete efforts of 2025 so far, indie rocker David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors contributes a soaring musical score that rises to new crescendos with the increasing steps of terrain elevation. The necessary sweep is all here.
LESSON #4: THE RUSTIC FAIRY TALE IS A LOST ART— To say it most simply, The Legend of Ochi is a go-out-and-get-dirty movie. It is a methodical trek of a self-reliant kid left to their own devices, though none of them are of the smart or touchscreen varieties. Emanating from its very foreign, rustic setting, seemingly light on modern amenities, this is a no-tech, rocky, mossy, and muddy fairy tale that most studios don’t make anymore. Go ahead and call it a lost art. Even the somewhat messy hijinks found in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, the discovered storybooks of The NeverEnding Story and The Princess Bride, the treasure hunt of The Goonies, or the wide wizarding world of the Harry Potter franchise all have footholds in some kind of here-and-now or identifiable civilian reality. As such, The Legend of Ochi is going to look like a dreary eyesore to a large portion of today’s device-centered kids who lack imagination and don’t touch enough grass. Heaven forbid Generation Alpha has to unplug and ponder survival choices bigger than their next snack splurge.
What a shame. That’s precisely the crowd that needs a movie like The Legend of Ochi more than ever, and they’ll be missing an engaging and dauntless adventure. Shooting amidst the earthy Apuseni Mountains of Romania, the natural grandeur is enormously abundant with every high-altitude establishing shot or the tight, grounded angles captured by director of photography Evan Prosofsky. It’s unbelievable to fathom that a heavily outdoor-set movie like this one was made for a frugal $10 million.
Stepping up from short films and music videos, debut feature writer/director Isaiah Saxon accounted himself well and made something to be proud of, with sagacity and artistic integrity. Using no pre-existing YA novel or obscure folk tale for any borrowed basis, Saxon’s creative work counts as highly original storytelling with hefty themes longing for recognizing harmony in the world. In all respects, The Legend of Ochi is odd and uncool, maybe, but it’s forthright, meaningful, and prudently PG-rated with intentions, lessons, metaphors, and magic all its own.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1301)
