The Legend of Ochi Review
A24’s latest film harkens back to an earlier era of family films, and while a step in the right direction, doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Helena Zengel in The Legend of Ochi. Courtesy of A24
A24 is a studio and distributor not known for producing kid-friendly content. An A24 family film isn’t something I would expect, so I was eager to see what that would look like. The Legend of Ochi proved to be kid’s movie with an edge that is unusual for films made with this audience in mind, resembling things made in the 1980s, though it still lacks much of the magic of that era.
Yuri (Helena Zengel) is a young girl who lives in a vaguely Eastern European farming village on the fictional island of Carpathia. For generations, farmers there have feared creatures known as Ochi, a vampire-coded, ape-like species that they blame for dead livestock. Yuri’s father, Maxim (Willem Dafoe), blames them for the destruction of their family and is obsessed with hunting the creatures down with the help of local youths he mentors as a boy scout leader of sorts. When Yuri finds a wounded baby Ochi, she becomes convinced the Ochi are misunderstood and runs away from home, determined to get the Ochi back to his family.
Willem Dafoe in The Legend of Ochi. Courtesy of A24
As soon as the film starts, you get a sense that what you’re going to see onscreen is going to be beautiful. The vivid colors pop out of the screen; drab color grading isn’t used to temper down the rich picture. Dark scenes are rich in shadow, with chiaroscuro that moodily brings details into focus. There’s a storybook quality to the movie’s setting; the way it's shot skillfully heightens this, blending the real and fantastical elements. It’s impressive to know that most of what we see was achieved with real locations and hundreds of matte paintings produced by director Isaiah Saxon himself. I was shocked to find out the budget for this movie was only around $10 million.
The Ochis look great. They’re expressive and feel real; they stand as a reminder of how amazing puppetry can be onscreen, that we shouldn’t abandon practical creature effects in favor of CG. The baby Ochi is a believable character performing opposite Helena Zengel’s Yuri.
Helena Zengel, behind the scenes of The Legend of Ochi. Courtesy of A24
Ochi respects its audience’s intelligence and doesn’t talk down to them. It never relies on pop culture for humor and is neither overly schmaltzy nor sentimental. The film’s tone is offbeat, without reaching Terry Gilliam levels of oddness or Jeunet levels of whimsy. In some ways, it feels like an 1980s Amblin film. It’s dark in the way that E.T. is dark, with that feeling that the adults in authority might present a danger to those you love. Life-or-death stakes are real in the film.
While Ochi captures some of that 1980s fantasy adventure film feeling, it doesn’t reach the heights of its inspiration. The movie felt sluggish to me at times, with some pacing issues, when it should have been breezy. The writing also fell short of the film’s visual mastery; I couldn’t help but feel I wanted more out of the screenplay and its dialogue. The little action in Ochi also felt like it was missing something. It wasn’t very kinetic or fun.
The Legend of Ochi. Courtesy of A24
The Legend of Ochi is an admirable shot at making a family film that feels like it's from another era. It looks great, features amazing effects, and strikes a now-unusual tone for this kind of movie, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights of what it's emulating. I wonder how kids will react to the movie; it’d be great to see more, better versions of this.
The Legend of Ochi opened in theaters nationwide on April 25, 2025.
