REVIEW: "The Legend of Ochi" (2025)

(Courtesy IMDb) 

WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on May 12, 2025. 

I believe one of the reasons that stories about children who befriend animals—or otherworldly creatures—still resonate and hold up are because they represent groups or that not only struggle communicating with each other, but more specifically understanding each other. Ditto how said friends bring those respective communities together, even in a small way. Language and communication are key in writer-director Isaiah Saxon’s new fantasy-adventure, The Legend of Ochi (A24’s first family film since Marcel the Shell With Shoes On). 

Set on an isolated island named Carpathia, where local residents struggle to survive a centuries-old conflict with the mysterious creatures that roam the forests—young boys are trained to hunt and fight, like Medieval knights—a shy young girl named Yuri befriends an injured baby Ochi (orange, furry, primate-type beasts with bat ears). Convinced there is more to these animals than she was led to believe, she goes on a perilous journey through the woods and mountains to bring him home. 

The artistry in this film is something to behold. The filmmakers used real locations in Romania (homes, farms, churches, stores), combined with large-scale sets, matte paintings, and other practical effects (such as cave markings, maps, sketchbook illustrations, and the titular Ochi). It’s a real throwback to a particular kind of cinema from the 1970s and 80s, with homages to filmmakers like Steven Spielberg (E.T.) and Jim Henson (The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth), and even children’s book authors like E.B. White (Charlotte’s Web). It creates a real sense of time and place. The baby Ochi (designed by the John Nolan Studio, and whose puppetry wires were digitally erased in post-production) resembles something of a distant cousin to Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian. The language of these characters includes whistles and cries, as well as “sensations and emotions,” both musical and intimate. 

Co-produced by Anthony & Joe Russo and Jonathan Wang (the team that helped bring A24’s critical and commercial hit, Everything Everywhere All At Once, to life) and featuring an intriguing score by David Longstreth, the film’s cast includes Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Finn Wolfhard, all led by young Helena Zengel as Yuri. (Zengel starred opposite Tom Hanks in 2020’s News of the World.) 

Ochi is a story that speaks to adoptive or abandoned children with absent or surrogate parents/siblings. In fact, both children and adults here struggle with loneliness, angst, sadness, and a sense of not being wanted. With visual metaphors of caterpillars, and a literal light at the end of the tunnel, one of the film’s themes involves mending broken relationships (and creating new ones) through the aforementioned communication and understanding.  

But despite the film’s PG-rating, Ochi isn’t afraid to get intense, dangerous, or even weird. (Only a risk-taking studio like A24 could’ve produced such a throwback project in this current era.) Some images and elements will be too much for younger viewers (one character gets bitten and infected, and brief but strong language pops up a few times). In the meantime, the overall pacing of the story will try more impatient moviegoers. For others, this will be a unique and wondrous experience—and a daring and magical one—that hasn’t been seen in a long time. 

(Courtesy Fandango) 

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