The trailer for Isaiah Saxon’s directorial debut The Legend of Ochi promises a gorgeous fantasy adventure, complete with a spear-wielding Willem Dafoe and the cutest movie monster I’ve seen in a while.
Distributed by A24, The Legend of Ochi follows Yuri (Helena Zengel), a young girl who lives in a remote village plagued by mysterious forest creatures known as the ochi. When she finds a baby ochi who’s been separated from its pack, Yuri decides to venture into the wilderness and reunite it with its family.
While The Legend of Ochi features actors like Dafoe, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), and Emily Watson (Dune: Prophecy), the true star of the trailer is the baby Ochi, who looks like a precious cross between adorable, real-life golden snub-nosed monkeys and fictional cuties like The Mandalorian‘s Grogu. Seeing quick flashes of him bonding with Yuri in the trailer is already enough to melt my heart — imagine what a wreck I’ll be watching the full movie.
The Legend of Ochi hits theaters Feb. 28.
