If you’ve enjoyed watching the antics of a Jim Henson film or for that matter even the fun of ‘Fraggle Rock, chances are ‘The Legend of Ochi’ will surely not disappoint you. Writer and director Isiah Saxon’s debut effort is super thrilling and for the kids, even more as you can immediately grasp kids trying to imitate the cute Ochi’s whistle language that is musical in nature. The ochi puppets used instead of computer generated images are realistic and brings back the beauty of puppetry.

On the fictional island of Carpathia in the Black Sea, a small collective of people live largely off the earth in a picturesque setting amid forest and the hills. The opening scene is where the action starts with the aggressive Maxim (Willem Dafoe) leading a crew of young boy soldiers (as Maxim calls them) alongwith his daughter Yuri (Helena Zengel), on a hunt for the wild Ochi, small creatures that look very much simian in nature, but with bright eyes and high-pitched vocalizations that resemble a shrill whistle. All the kids, including a young boy named Petro (Finn Wolfhard – seen in the superhit Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’) who Maxim says he has adopted after his son was killed by an Ochi, and his team, are well trained to kill the Ochi who have been terrorizing their lives. There are gunshots, flames, and the Ochi hurling through the trees, trying to break away from the firing mob. While the ochi watch the hunters, sometimes it’s the other way round, for if you go into the forests in the dead of night, you might sense that you're being watched instead. Watched by an elusive primate called the ochi.

After an argument at the dinner table with her father Maxim, who orders her to check on the Ochi traps, Yuri leaves to check on the ochi traps. Her life changes when she discovers a baby Ochi in the woods that night with its leg injured and stuck in a trap. Apparently the ochi is left behind by its pack and left to die. Initially hesitant, Yuri releases the adorable ochi from the trap and tends to its wounds, vowing to return it to its mother. She brings Ochi home, rejecting her family's tradition of hunting down the reclusive forest creature. Yuri introduces young Ochi to the caterpillars in her house and through action, teaches it how to care for the caterpillars. The scenes are very touching. But word gets out when Pedro suspects something amiss happening in the house. He bursts in, only to see Yuri with the ochi. Yuri vanishes as soon as Petro sees her with the ochi.

Yuri and Ochi move to the forest and begin a life together. Action frames include her racing through the forest, creating havoc at a grocery store that ends in Yuri being bitten, and racing down in a car. Once on the outskirts of the area, she discovers she can speak the Ochi’s language of high-pitched sounds and whistles. Amid huge banter, the two begin communication and their life together. But her father and his soldiers are on her trail that leads to a confrontation with her mother Dasha (Emily Watson).

Will Maxim hunt down Yuri, will Yuri manage to return the baby ochi to its mother. 

‘The Legend of Ochi’ is close to what the 80s projected in the film ‘E.T’ (Extra Terrestrial) and comes close to its simians in terms of long fingers, eyes and mannerisms. The summer holidays are always the best time to go outdoors and do what you like. Take the kids to watch this film, you surely won’t regret it. The movie shows how humans and animals can coexist peacefully and live in harmony.

The film is distributed in India by Impact Films.

Duration: 95 minutes

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira