‘The Legend of Ochi’ Review: A Familiar Story Made With Love

A24 enters the family fantasy genre. Read our The Legend Of Ochi review here.

The Legend of Ochi follows a farm girl named Yuri (Helena Zengel) on the fictional island of Carpathia, a dark fantasy-esque land where there are cars, supermarkets, vast green landscapes, and Walkmans, but also the mysterious creatures known as the Ochi, which her hunter father, Maxim (Willem Dafoe), has taught her to fear her whole life.

Feeling disconnected from her adopted brother, Petro ( Finn Wolfhard), and her father, Maxim, Yuri wanders through her days mostly in silence. Until one day, she stumbles across an injured baby Ochi, and after the outcasts connect, Yuri vows to return it to its home. The two embark on a visually stunning journey filled with life-like puppetry, colorful vistas, and gorgeous landscapes. 

The cold open of the film is incredibly strong, as Yuri informs the audience of the legend of the Ochi, while we witness Maxim, Petro, and the other young men of the village launch a surprisingly violent assault on the creatures. The narration by Zengel offers the right amount of intrigue before immediately immersing audiences in this beautiful world. However, this doesn’t last long, as after the title card, the film becomes the usual family film fanfare.

A child and their parent clashing over ideologies, a child making friends with a creature and going on an adventure to find its home, a long-lost parent returning, all familiar story beats that previous (and better) family films have tackled. We are given bare-bones information about each of these characters, causing there to be no tension in the latter half, and no relationship for the audience and characters to have. 

However, where the film lacks narratively, it does its best to make up for it visually. The cinematography by Evan Prosofsky, paired with David Longstreth’s ethereal score and Saxon’s shot composition, creates a striking audio-visual experience that needs to be seen on the big screen. As I mentioned, the lackluster story and characters drag the film, especially in the second act, where the pacing grinds to a screeching halt, and I was nearly bored to tears, as much as it pains me to say. 

The Legend of Ochi is a visually stunning but all too familiar film; we’ve seen it plenty of times in the past 20 years, yet this does nothing new to stand out from its peers, sadly

The Legend of Ochi was written and directed by Isaiah Saxon, the film stars Helena Zengel, Finn Wolfhard, Emily Watson, and Willem Dafoe.

A24 released The Legend of Ochi in NYC/LA on April 18, before expanding nationwide on April 25, 2025.

If you enjoyed our The Legend of Ochi review, make sure to check out our other news and reviews here.