The Legend of Ochi will face challenges upon release. Like The Dark Crystal, the film incorporates puppetry to showcase the mystical creatures in the movie. However, similar to The Dark Crystal, it isn’t easy to visualize a commercial pathway for the film. It has all the elements of a How to Train Your Dragon movie but with the approach of an arthouse flick.
The first thought that came to mind while viewing the film was, “This feels like Robert Eggers.” The impression does not mean that the film is dark or remarkably scary in atmosphere. The reason stems from another crazed performance by Willem Dafoe. As a performer, Dafoe enters the story with the same wild energy as in The Lighthouse. And it’s all so glorious because it’s a performance made for an incredibly quirky kids’ movie about a baby animal.
What is The Legend of Ochi about?
Written and directed by Isaiah Saxon, The Legend of Ochi centers on a quiet and awkward kid named Yuri (Helena Zengel) who lives on the fantastical island of Carpathia. The film quickly introduces the world-building aspects, showing her father, Maxim (Willem Dafoe), hunting for mysterious wilderness creatures called Ochis. Maxim, who never had a son, carries a group of local young boys with him on the hunting expeditions, including a young boy named Petro (Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things), whom Maxim treats more favorably than Yuri.
The Ochi have primate-like qualities, walking on their knuckles, and have gorilla-like hair. However, their unique features include lighter shades of brown hair and striking turquoise skin on their faces. Additionally, they communicate similarly to how a bird does through a chirp-like song. Like How to Train Your Dragon, there’s a false understanding of the creatures, and the central father figure of the film wants to erase the Ochis’ existence. However, Yuri’s mindset about the Ochi changes when she discovers an injured baby Ochi in the wild. Instead of respecting her father’s agenda and killing the creature, she decides to care for it, leading Yuri down a wondrous path of discovery about herself and the living existence of the Ochi.
Isaiah Saxon’s script for The Legend of Ochi feels overly familiar
While Saxon injects some fresh elements into various portions of the film, the issue lies in how structurally similar it is to DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon. The film follows a character who lacks her father’s approval (Hiccup); her father, Maxim (or Stoick the Vast), seeks to destroy a species of fantastical creatures (Dragons), and our protagonist discovers one of these creatures alone and injured (Toothless). The comparison extends further, as Yuri’s mother is mysteriously absent, a significant plot point in the first two films of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
Additionally, the design of the baby Ochi has a striking resemblance to Baby Grogu from The Mandalorian. The creature design is undeniably adorable, but the tiny Ochi’s appearance gives the impression of someone envisioning Grogu and adding fur and monkey fingers. Alternatively, perhaps Grogu‘s design was inspired by a baby monkey all along. However, beyond the plot details and creature characteristics, it’s in the subtle details that the film captures a slice of its own magic.
What if Robert Eggers made a children’s fairy tale?
As stated, this is probably a jarring comparison, but as previously mentioned, Saxon draws inspiration from Robert Eggers. For instance, cinematographer Evan Prosofsky has similar flourishes in the opening moments of The Legend of Ochi. The sequence involves a night hunt, and how the scene utilizes light is reminiscent of lantern and torch sequences from Nosferatu. The same is true of the incredible shots of the mountainous landscapes of Romania, which have familiar traits of the lavish coverage of Ireland from The Northman.
The addition of Willem Dafoe certainly adds to the Eggers aesthetic, especially when his character, Maxim, divulges the most intense doses of dialogue delivery to his tiny army of Ochi hunters. It’s not quite as outlandish as, “Why’d ya spill yer beans?” but Dafoe gives two hundred percent to the words in a movie that does not require the theatrics, and the audience will love him for it. Dafoe also wears a strange assortment of biking attire that adds to the insanity of his character. His character, Maxim, seemingly wears it as protection, but the exterior hilariously seems to be as protective as a cosplay costume.
The Legend of Ochi lacks freshness despite whimsical puppetry
The film does exhibit some great performances, especially from its lead, Helena Zengel. She delivers a feral and ferocious performance that has shades of Saoirse Ronan‘s dynamo role in Hanna. While familiar to a fault, the journey she shares with the baby Ochi takes wonderfully weird turns. The only shame is that The Legend of Ochi is frustratingly familiar.
Due to its similarities to other films, moviegoers will most likely predict how the story unfolds. That said, it’s hard to dismiss a movie that aspires to bring back the magic of puppetry. Like The Mandalorian, it’s another reminder of how CGI lacks the tangible quality produced by animatronics and the skillful use of puppet magic.
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