The Legend of Ochi

But the story has no relevance, Yuri (Helena Zengel), the hero, has zero personality, and the puppet-based titular creatures she’s trying to save are some of the dullest creations I’ve seen in ages.

“The Legend of Ochi” is a gentle fable that imagines people being able to realize there is a better way of being and living in harmony together. It’s certain to warm the heart and tug at it too.

"It’s just a shame the film’s storytelling is never as assured as Saxon’s other creative choices."

Most Hollywood monsters aren’t being rendered on this intimate scale, but there’s a craftsmanship to "Ochi" that the bigger blockbusters could stand to reclaim.

The movie is tightly packed with incident, maybe overpacked, but Saxon’s fairy tale is an intense, lived-in experience, its centuries-old folkloric atmosphere dotted with all the usual intrusive elements of progress.

... its marvelous practical effects never seem like effects at all, even if an adult brain insists otherwise given the facts we possess about our world and the creatures that inhabit it.

The Legend of Ochi will leave you seeing the world with just a little more tenderness than before.

While no one can deny the intricate puppetry of The Legend of Ochi, Isaiah Saxon’s directorial debut is a frequently grating, listless carbon copy of better family adventures, without any personal voice behind the images that the director steals from.

Despite its visual appeal, the good intentions of its premise are lost in a dull narrative and hollow characters that add no substance to the adventure fable about xenophobia, cultural identity, and family dilemmas. [Full review in Spanish]

The primary draw really is the visuals. For a debut, however, that’s not bad, and if you vibe with it, The Legend of Ochi is a pleasant enough way to spend some time.