Come for The Legend of Ochi‘s Poignant Fantasy Tale, Stay for the Jaw-Dropping Puppets

The crippled of writer-director Isaiah Saxon’s The Legend of Ochi whitethorn consciousness familiar—it’s a coming-of-age communicative astir a lonely tween who befriends a forbidden monster, precise overmuch successful the vein of E.T. the Extraterrestrial—but it’s executed with specified heartfelt creativity that’s casual to forgive. Focus connected the world-building and you won’t caput that you’ve seen akin tales before; the monsters are played by stunningly expressive puppets, and the mounting manages to equilibrium earthy quality with a gritty realism that keeps some the communicative and its emotions feeling grounded.

That second constituent is nary tiny feat, considering the go-to accumulation plan for phantasy tales tends to impact a batch of gratuitous CG. There’s surely immoderate CG afoot successful The Legend of Ochi, but it takes a backmost spot to existent locations, mostly successful Romania, to bring its forest-laden environs to the screen. On a tiny land that clings to old-world traditions—but hasn’t stopped the march of advancement erstwhile it comes to things similar cars and dense metal—a miss named Yuri (Helena Zengel) tells america astir the “ochi,” the much-feared creatures that unrecorded successful the mountains adjacent her village.

“They destroyed my family,” she explains, but it doesn’t instrumentality agelong for The Legend of Ochi to uncover that she means the ochi, successful immoderate way, caused her parents (Dad is Willem Dafoe, Mom is Emily Watson) to divided up. Also successful the premix is her adopted member Petro, who’s played by Stranger Things‘ Finn Wolfhard—a information that mightiness marque you expect him to play a overmuch bigger relation than helium really does.

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Dafoe gets successful immoderate scenery-chewing arsenic a antheral obsessed with hunting and sidesplitting each the ochi, but he’s not arsenic vicious arsenic that mightiness imply. His “army” consists of section boys he’s drilled successful fighting, and his biggest failing is that he’s truthful focused connected demolition that helium can’t spot however miserable Yuri is. Nor tin helium comprehend the conception that humans and ochi mightiness beryllium susceptible of peacefully co-existing.

Yuri’s estranged ma has a much tolerant presumption of the creatures, contempt having mislaid her manus aft being bitten by one. And she has an impressively world knowing of the ochi, peculiarly successful regards to the trilling, singing vocalizations that marque up their language. But similar galore stories of this type, the lone constituent of presumption that truly matters is Yuri’s, particularly aft she encounters an injured babe ochi that’s go separated from its family. Though she was raised by a begetter with a “shoot first” mentality, Yuri—who has a heavy empathy for the earthy world—knows what she indispensable do: assistance the carnal find its mode home.

Though The Legend of Ochi reveals the ochi aboriginal on, it’s not until we walk clip with the babe that we recognize however peculiar they are. That’s owed successful nary tiny portion to the puppet itself, which evokes not conscionable a overmuch cuter E.T. but besides Gizmo from Gremlins. There’s an astir Studio Ghibli meets Wes Anderson vibe arsenic the 2 caller besties bond. Yuri calms the carnal by popping successful a brace of fake fangs that look not dissimilar its ain precise crisp teeth, leaves a enactment for her begetter with a cheeky P.S. (“I americium beardown and chill and don’t judge what you accidental astir anything”), puts connected her signature yellowish parka, and hits the roadworthy with the region’s astir feared monster riding successful her backpack, Yoda-style.

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There are moments of drama on the way—of people Dafoe’s quality has an full acceptable of armor to deterioration portion helium and his mini-militia pursuit aft Yuri—but The Legend of Ochi is mostly acrophobic with the increasing transportation betwixt Yuri and the creature. She’s its lone protector successful a satellite she understands firsthand tin beryllium cruel and unfeeling, and their travel becomes much astir Yuri’s coming of age, giving her the spot to basal up to her begetter erstwhile that clip inevitably comes.

But, again—even if you tin spot precise intelligibly wherever The Legend of Ochi is starring you, the pleasance derived from getting determination cannot beryllium overstated. If by its extremity you don’t consciousness wonderment and anticipation (and possibly shed a teardrop oregon two) implicit the film’s earnestly expressed lessons astir understanding, compromise, and learning to unrecorded successful harmony, you mightiness request to set your ain levels of cynicism. And if the babe ochi puppet doesn’t springiness you utmost cute aggression, you mightiness privation to cheque your pulse.

The Legend of Ochi opens wide Friday, April 25.

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