When The Legend of Ochi’s trailer first dropped online, it kicked up a wave of controversy over its distinctly glossy and slightly uncanny-looking creatures. They must be AI, internet users cried. How dare AI corrupt the sanctity of our beloved A24 movies, other users bemoaned. The outcry got so bad that director Isaiah Saxon, a first-time feature filmmaker for whom Legend of Ochi was a longtime passion project, had to step in to clarify that there was absolutely no AI used in the film. “Six years of handmade work: puppets, animatronics, matte paintings, and a bit of 3D animation,” Saxon wrote in a since-deleted post on X (formerly known as Twitter). “No AI. There’s the statement.”
What these internet naysayers might have been trying to articulate — if we’re being generous — is that Legend of Ochi looks very familiar. And on that observation, they’d have a point: Legend of Ochi is part of the grand tradition of the “child and their creature” fantasy adventure story — a genre perfected by Steven Spielberg’s ET and its many, many knockoffs. Like many Amblin-inspired movies, Legend of Ochi sometimes feels a little too calculated and formulaic, a byproduct of being part of a genre that has honed its formula to a fine point. But there’s something sweet and wholesome about Legend of Ochi’s guilelessly earnest approach to a story that’s been told a million times before, not to mention the stunning, meticulously crafted visuals that Saxon has worked so hard on. It all works to immerse you into the beautiful, otherworldly world of Legend of Ochi.
