PLOT: A teenage girl living in a village joins her father on a hunt for the “ochi,” a mysterious and allegedly dangerous animal that she’s been taught to be frightened of. When she encounters a wounded baby ochi, the girl learns it’s nothing to be scared of and sets out on a quest to return the creature to its family.
REVIEW: Style over substance isn’t always a bad thing, as The Legend of Ochi thoroughly proves. Story-wise, the film offers what feels like the umpteenth variation on an adventure story following a brave young outsider who befriends an unusual creature; some of the notes are changed but the music is very familiar. However, thanks to a unique visual style and a charmingly quirky atmosphere, The Legend of Ochi manages to entertain for a tight 95 minutes even while we recognize it’s doing anything but reinventing the wheel.
Imagine if Wes Anderson decided to make an homage to Amblin-era 80s adventure movies and you might have a vague concept of what you’re getting into with “Ochi.” Writer-director Isaiah Saxon’s film is painted in vivid colors, with frequently surreal landscapes filling the frame. Never a boring movie to look at, it’s a testament to the director’s creativity that some people had apparently thought the movie’s visual effects were produced via A.I., though the truth is most of the movie’s eye-catching vistas came courtesy of old-fashioned matte paintings. The baby ochi character at the center of the action – as well as its larger relatives – are puppets, each wrangled by six or seven puppeteers who were then erased thanks to digital magic. The result is quite something to behold, and if you’re keen to give this movie a change it’s recommended you do so on a big screen.
Not unlike the protagonists in Shyamalan’s The Village, the people who live on the small island of Carpathia in “Ochi” live in fear of the supposedly deadly creatures who lurk in the woods that surround their hamlet. Every once in a while a man named Maxim (a reliably intense Willem Dafoe) takes a small band of young men out to hunt down the vicious beasts. Tagging along is Yuri (compelling German actress Helena Zengel), Maxim’s introverted daughter who’s grown bored and weary of her rugged lifestyle. During a night hunt that devolves into chaos, Yuri ends up rescuing a baby ochi, who of course turns out not to be a ferocious monster but a cute, cuddly little thing that one might mistake for Gizmo’s long lost cousin. Breaking with her father’s strict worldview, Yuri patches up the adorable creature and decides to return it to its family, sparking off a series of predictable yet wholesome events (such as a messy trip to the grocery store) that bond the unlikely pair.
Saxon keeps us invested in this fairly routine tale with his confident visual panache and an easy, breezy rhythm that never tries the audience’s patience. Plus, there’s no avoiding the appeal of the baby ochi, an irresistible creation that makes Grogu look hard-bitten and weathered by comparison. What is refreshing is that Saxon doesn’t feel the need to manufacture too many mini-dramas for the traveling duo; instead of confronting a series of life-threatening challenges, our leads’ journey is more about learning to communicate with one another in order to survive the grimy terrain they find themselves in.
Saxon’s cast is game for his fantastical vision, with Zengel an engaging if unorthodox lead who draws us in the longer we get to know her. Dafoe, of course, can be counted on to sell a hard-charging, fiery Alpha male who hides a wounded side, while Emily Watson turns up in an engaging supporting role as Yuri’s tough-as-nails absentee mother who comes back into her life at just the right time.
The Legend of Ochi is perfectly pleasant family entertainment that’s easy on the eyes and even easier to digest. More cynical viewers are likely to ding it for its familiar beats and lack of action (you’re not going to get any exciting set-pieces in the spirit of E.T. or Gremlins here), but if you’re content with a sweet-natured and predominantly upbeat tale with an impossible-to-dislike friendship at its center, you’ve got a modest winner here.
