“The Legend of Ochi” (2025)
I am convinced that the phrase “totes adorbs” was invented to describe the baby ochi that dominates the screen in “The Legend of Ochi.”
While this co-protagonist is adorable, they are also fierce, spending a significant portion of the movie hissing.
In the vaguely Eastern European land of this film, the ochi are the sworn enemy of the humans, and a group of young boys have been tasked with ridding the area of the ochi, under the leadership of Maxim (Willem Dafoe), donning long underwear and armor.
The focus of this film is on his daughter, Yuri (Helena Zengel), who is often overlooked in her father’s fervent fanaticism over training the boys (including an adopted teenage son, Petro, played by Finn Wolfhard) and tracking down the ochi.
Things take a turn when Yuri comes across our beloved baby ochi injured and hiding in the forest. Instead of following what her father has tried to ingrain in her, she decides to take the ochi home and nurse it back to health.
The bond they form is one of this year’s greatest pleasures to watch, from the rescue scene to getting to know each other in her bedroom to their quest to return the ochi to their family.
The plot, the puppetry and the score all took me back to “E.T.” and other family-friendly creature fantasy films I grew up with in the 1980s and ’90s.
I was able to see “The Legend of Ochi” twice before it got released, and I loved having the chance to notice more detail and relive some of my favorite scenes.
I highly recommend this movie both for older kids and their parents who might be nostalgic for “E.T.” and the like. I am very much looking forward to seeing what filmmaker Isaiah Saxon does next.