The Legend of Ochi 4K 2025 Ultra HD 2160p

Storyline
A young girl named Yuri is raised to fear the reclusive forest creatures known as the ochi. However, when she discovers a baby ochi left behind by its pack, she embarks on a perilous journey to reunite the creature with its family. As Yuri ventures deeper into the forest, she faces dangerous challenges and learns valuable lessons about courage, friendship, and the importance of protecting nature.

User Review

A film by Isaiah Saxon, music video director for Björk, Dirty Projectors (whose leader David Longstreth composed the soundtrack) and Kanye West, a fan of Disney, Kubrick, and Miyazaki.

The girl Yuri (Zengel, with Defoe playing her father and the de facto head of the settlement, whose character is extremely colorful) was born on a mountainous island in the middle of the ocean. The dense forests here are home to many wild animals, but the most dangerous are considered to be the mysterious creatures known as the Ochi. Some think they are just a fairy tale for children, while others consider them hostile creatures. Yuri's father, at least, is firmly convinced that it was they who forced his wife and Yuri's mother to leave home many years ago, thus abandoning their family. One day, Yuri finds a lost ochi cub in the forest and decides to return it to its parents, setting off into the endless wilderness of his island...

Saxon, for whom this is his debut in feature film directing, has created an amazing fantasy, a little dark, with a hint of both a road movie and a buddy movie, partly in the spirit of Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial with elements of The Neverending Story, which long ago won the hearts of millions and even, perhaps, billions of viewers. Ochi himself is more of a mix of Yoda's ears, a kinkajou's face (there is such an animal), the fluffiness of Paddington, and the charming mischief of Gizmo from Gremlins (it seems that all this could make the character truly iconic and, at the very least, generate good sales of related merchandise: handbags, T-shirts, toys).

The film has a very unusual look (cinematographer Evan Prosofsky; I personally liked it, but there are and will be those who are dissatisfied), which has given rise to a number of rumors that it was created largely on the basis of AI. Saxon himself categorically denies this: "Six years of manual work. All the large and medium shots with Ochi are animation, puppets, and actors in costumes. The larger shots are 3D animation.“ ”Every shot with baby Ochi in the trailer is 100% an animatronic puppet controlled live by seven people,“ he added. ”No artificial intelligence was used in this film. Frame 1 is full 3D animation, which took a year to complete, frame 2 was filmed entirely in Romania, frame 3 is an element of the background model, frame 4 was filmed in the Carpathians with partial use of matte painting on the mountains, and so on." "Since 2005, I have been shooting handmade videos that look like they were drawn. Artificial intelligence has appeared, and now crusaders like you are trashing people who have dedicated their lives to their craft," Saxon also wrote to one Twitter user. A thorough investigation by IndieWire confirmed that the director was right. And among the master puppeteers who took part in the filming are stars of their profession, including Robert Tigner, Sue Beatty, Aestyn Evans, and others, who trained at the legendary Jim Henson Studio and participated in the irreverent puppet sitcom “Puppet Masters.” Sue Beatty, Austin Evans, and others.

Ultimately, it seemed to me that this film is about searching. Some are searching for family, some for some invisible truth (personal or more global), while Yuri herself, in my opinion, is primarily searching for herself, for self-knowledge. So, from the main character's point of view, this is probably a coming-of-age story. It's deeper and more diverse than it might seem at first glance. And, of course, it tells everyone: “Go for it!”

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (72.8 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10+
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1

Info Audio

#English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1
#English: Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos 5.1
#German: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1

Info Subtitles