Review: 'The Legend of Ochi' brings a modern fantasy tale to vivid life, with puppetry and Helena Zengel's luminous performance

Folklore and fantasy intertwine beautifully in “The Legend of Ochi,” an eccentric and wonder-filled children’s adventure that grown-ups may come to appreciate even more than their kids.

Writer-director Isaiah Saxton, making a sure-footed feature debut, starts on a remote island in Carpathia, where teen girl Yuri (Helena Zengel) has grown up in a house full of boys – all trainees in the hunting squad maintained by her father, Maxim (Willem Dafoe). Maxim trains the boys to hunt down the elusive and fear-inducing creatures called Ochi, which live in hiding on the island.

One day, Yuri discovers that a baby Ochi has hidden in her knapsack and come home with her. In her bedroom, Yuri soon discovers that Ochi aren’t the terrifying creatures Maxim has taught her they are. So she decides to strike out on her own, to return the baby Ochi to its tribe. To do that, she needs help — from her estranged mom, Dasha (Emily Watson), who lives in a cabin far up into the mountains.

Meanwhile, Maxim, thinking that the Ochi have kidnapped Yuri, assembles his young hunters into a search party — with his most trusted protege, Petro (Finn Wolfhard), leading the way. What Maxim doesn’t realize is that Petro might be harboring a crush on Yuri.

Saxton spins the events in Ochi like a fairy tale, sometimes following the dream logic of folktale. He also tosses Yuri, and us, into the fray and lets us figure out the complex backstory of the Ochi as we go. Saxton undoubtedly wrote Tolkien-sized amounts of lore to make the Ochi story complete, but he’s smart enough not to show all of his homework.

Most spectacularly, Saxton deploys some master puppeteers to make the Ochi look realistic, both in their expressions and movement. Making these creatures interact with Zengel (who’s grown more talented since her breakout role opposite Tom Hanks in “News of the World”) is like witnessing magic in real time.

——

‘The Legend of Ochi’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, April 25, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for violent content, a bloody image, smoking, thematic elements and some language. Running time: 96 minutes.