#REVIEW: “THE LEGEND OF OCHI”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

Isaiah Saxon may or may not ring a bell, but his latest effort The Legend of Ochi is one of the most beautiful live action hybrid movies in recent memory. I don’t mean it using that horrifying cross bred that Alvin and the Chipmunks use but Ochi uses animatronics, puppetry, and anything else you can think of to bring this Movie to life and my God, does it ever do it tenfold! This is as beautiful an atmosphere and world (and story but more on that later) in a similar vein of Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke. For a first-time Director and Screenwriter for a feature, Saxon swings for the fences and knocks it straight out of the park but with the beauty and imagination at the forefront – The Legend of Ochi is definitely this year’s sleeper hit that you’ll kick yourself for not seeing in an immersive setting.

The Movie is set in a remote village on the island of Carpathia, as Yuri (Helena Zengel) lives with her quiet literally insane father Maxim (Willem Dafoe) and her brother Petro (Finn Wolfhard) and believe the stories that their father has told them. One of which stories focuses on the disappearance of their mother, Dasha (Emily Watson) and that the seemingly harmless creatures, named the Ochi, are evil and deserve to be hunted and killed. Yuri is more humanistic than her father and brother, so when she discovers a wounded Ochi she helps it escape the bear trap it’s trapped in and wants to nurse it back to health and ensure its safe return to its family. The Princess Mononoke references are incredibly apparent from this point forward – but if you haven’t seen it, we won’t spoil it here – but if you have you’ll see the parallels instantly – however it is different enough that this is also not spoiling the movie itself or anything pertaining to the ending of the film either.

The Legend of Ochi works because three of its most important parts work so well on their own separately, but also as a sum of their parts. The first of which are the performances, between Zengel, Dafoe, Watson and Wolfhard everyone is great, individually, with each other, and part of the Ensemble. No one tries to overtake the other, they all get their opportunities to shine, breathe, and collaborate together making their performances truly spectacular. Secondly, it is the Script and direction from Saxon which eleveant this on all fronts helps bring this whimsical family mystery to new heights, but truly the glue that holds it all together is the production design. Every ounce of care and love for Ochi both as the Movie, its characters, and the world they live in is meticulously crafted and brought to life across a multitude of platforms of animatronics, paintings, and puppetry –this truly delivers on every single front tenfold.

 The Legend of Ochi is one of the first truly shocking movies of 2025, it is so wonderfully delightful and crazy and beautiful, it truly needs to be seen in an immersive setting with no distractions – wherever that may be for you. Ochi is a marvel in every sense of the word, captivating audiences and make them feel things that are hard to come by – a delight from start to finish that similarly to Yuri you will also full in love with the Ochi.

Elevation Pictures releases The Legend of Ochi in theatres on Friday, April 25, 2025.