Jenna Ortega’s Klara and the Sun becomes Taika Waititi’s worst-reviewed movie ever
Taika Waititi’s latest sci-fi movie isn’t going down how you’d expect, if critics are anything to go by.
Book-to-film adaptations are always a dicey business, especially when you're dealing with a celebrated bit of science fiction and the director in charge has a habit of going off-piste. Enter Klara and the Sun: Sony's latest stab at bringing Kazuo Ishiguro's 2021 novel to the big screen, with Taika Waititi in the director's chair and a release date set for 23 October. We’ve seen the first batch of reviews, and frankly, it’s not looking pretty.
The Film and Its Cast
Waititi, of Oscar-winning fame, is helming the adaptation, with Jenna Ortega taking the lead as Klara — essentially an artificially intelligent friend bought for a girl named Josie (played by Mia Tharia). The mum, played by Amy Adams, is grappling not just with her daughter's mysterious illness but with the emotional minefield that comes with it. The story's supposed to balance futuristic ideas with actual human feeling — but that’s precisely where the critics seem to think it's come off the rails.
- Jenna Ortega as Klara
- Mia Tharia as Josie
- Amy Adams as Josie’s mother
What Critics Are Saying
Early critical response is, to put it politely, a bloodbath. As of now, Klara and the Sun is sitting at a jaw-dropping 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you're keeping track, that's even lower than Ortega's last outing in "Hurry Up Tomorrow," which underwhelmed with a 14% score. Granted, critics don't always get it right, but those numbers make for grim reading if you're in the marketing department.
Klara and the Sun currently holds a 20% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, putting it among the year's worst-reviewed releases.
Ben Gibbons at Screen Rant came right out and said he’s "disappointed" — the film, he reckons, misses the mark on what a dystopian story ought to deliver, trading depth for clumsy attempts at sci-fi comedy. Meanwhile, Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian went nuclear, calling out Waititi personally and awarding the adaptation a solitary star out of five. Here’s Bradshaw’s take in his own words:
Introducing his 1/5 review in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw said the director "detonates an explosion of postmodern quirkiness and ironic dorkiness in this unbearably mannered, unspeakably acted film."
It’s also worth flagging: that Rotten Tomatoes percentage is now Waititi’s lowest score for any of his films. Several reviewers are irked by how much the script strays from Ishiguro’s original themes, ditching introspective explorations of what it means to be human in favour of winking attempts at humour. Oddly enough, the one saving grace seems to be Ortega’s performance — a couple of critics admit she’s the best thing about the film, even if everything else feels a bit off.
Where the Adaptation Fumbles
Fans of the novel will know that its impact relied on Klara’s wide-eyed, oddly touching perspective: her faith in the sun, her devotion to Josie, and the subtle mysteries behind Josie's illness and her mother's intentions. That’s all meant to be front and centre — but the rough reception might be down to the film not staying true to these crucial elements, or overstating them to the point of parody. With its cinematic release looming, we'll soon see how the public reacts, but for now, it’s clear this adaptation is struggling to win over even the most open-minded critics.