On paper, Klara and the Sun has everything it needs to be a box-office smash. From its basis in Kazuo Ishiguro’s critically acclaimed novel to its Hollywood cast (Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams), plus themes of technology taking over our world, power imbalances, and grief poisoning the mind, it almost feels like nothing can go wrong. However, critics have torn Taika Waititi’s film apart, with the Rotten Tomatoes score a low 27% at the time of publication.
The film follows an outdated android model named Klara (Ortega), who is befriended and purchased by a sick teenager, Josie (Mia Tharia). It’s a dystopian world where people can use genetic engineering to advance in society, causing an extreme class divide.
Below, entertainment writers Lachlan Guertin and Rachel Choy pick apart what they loved about the film, what was missing, and whether Klara and the Sun is worth seeing in the cinema. Spoilers ahead.
Rachel Choy: Klara and the Sun’s novel is penned by an author who writes very devastating books, so the movie is an adaptation of that. I was expecting it to rip my heart out. Did you have any expectations going in, or were you coming in with a blank canvas?
Lachlan Guertin: I knew that it was a very popular book, which we almost did for book club, and I really love Amy Adams. She’s one of my favorite actresses. However, going in, I knew that it only had 27% on Rotten Tomatoes.
RC: I saw these bad reviews, and I was like, oh, sometimes if you’re too pretentious and you really want a certain thing out of a movie, then maybe that could be the reason. Maybe they don’t like fun or appreciate a film that entertains.
LG: Personally, I normally like movies that are considered bad by critics. I saw that it had 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it also had two female leads and was based on a popular book. That is usually something I would get into. I really enjoyed the first half, but then it dipped a little for me. I left thinking, “I think that would have been a really good book”, which I feel is not the review you should have.
RC: It should stand alone, separate from the book. It dragged heavily in the middle and didn’t really seem to know what genre it was.
LG: I think I would have liked it to build up the connection between Klara and her friend Josie a bit more, and I agree, it feels like it dragged on a bit, but it was under two hours, which is crazy. Like, I watched The Odyssey and thought that flew by, and this felt like the longest movie of my life.
RC: It also wasn’t building up to the end, and the end wasn’t as devastating as I thought it should be.
LG: I feel like it was devastating when I sat with it. I was like, “Oh, that was actually really beautiful”, but it didn’t hit me in the moment. As for Jenna’s performance, I have seen a lot of commentary online like, ‘She needs to fire her agent, she’s only been in bad movies recently’. But I will say I think this was a very smart choice for her to do after Wednesday to show her range after doing such a negative character and doing the complete opposite. I think it only strengthened her as an actor, and I think she did a brilliant job.
RC: I really enjoyed Jenna’s performance. I think that was probably one of the highlights for me. Yeah, I love Amy Adams as well, but I was kind of like, a bit like I don’t think that she was developed enough or utilised. There wasn’t as much plot that went into her backstory. Like, I know that you’ve got little bits about it, but the whole fact that she got her daughter “lifted” so that her daughter could be one of the elite. They didn’t dive into it enough. They could have made so much more commentary on the world. They’d have throwaway comments, and then there would be no substance.
It should stand alone, separate from the book. It dragged heavily in the middle and didn’t really seem to know what genre it was.
Rachel Choy
LG: The actual world-building at the start was very interesting, and I was intrigued when they would drop bits of lore about what had happened. After World War Three, they got rid of the internet. So then little things like that, I thought, okay, this is really interesting, and the need for having artificial friends. But then it kind of went in a different direction.
RC: It wasn’t enough to hold your attention.
LG: We just wanted more.
RC: I also feel like the U.S. loves happy endings. When they make remakes of foreign films that are really bleak, they’ll change it to be a little less bleak or into a happily ever after, and it almost feels like they wrapped up this ending in like a little happily ever after shell, even though it’s sad.
LG: I wanted tears.
RC: I wanted to be sobbing in my seat, but it didn’t happen. I was actually getting antsy; I was like, I want to get out of here, it’s too long.
LG: The director, Taika Waititi, has made a lot of really good films. Probably not recently, though. I really enjoyed Jojo Rabbit, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and even Thor: Ragnarok. I think over the last few years, his name now doesn’t hold as much weight in my mind.
RC: I started early, like I watched Eagle vs. Shark at the movies for my 17th birthday with my friends. And then What We Did In The Shadows, that was really good. But now I’m kind of like, did his ego get too big? Does he need to go back to New Zealand? What’s going on? I do love that he puts Rachel House on everything, though. She is so funny.
LG: She was very fun! Talking about performances, going back to Amy Adams, she seemed underutilised.
RC: Her character wasn’t developed enough. You don’t have sympathy for her, but you don’t hate her, she’s just meh. You should feel a certain way about it because she does some pretty awful stuff. But also, it comes from grief. There wasn’t that much about grief either.
LG: They didn’t dive into it that much.
RC: Little bits again, like tiny little hints of things, and saying you do odd things when you’re grieving, but that’s it. Yeah, you know, it’s like hello? You built a whole grieving doll after your daughter died. I wish we could expand on it more. I wish we could go into how you’re creating a new version of your daughter in anticipation of her death, and I also wish it wasn’t so obvious.
LG: I don’t know about the timing, but Amy Adams dropped out of doing another film this year, The Invite, and it might have been to do this film. She would have been brilliant in that, and that’s obviously getting a lot of Oscar buzz. Whereas I don’t think this will be recognised at all. So I do question her career choices because there’s nothing I want more than for Amy Adams to win an Oscar.
RC: She’s going to get it for Enchanted 3. It’s going to be a full musical.
LG: Okay, we can manifest that.
I do question her career choices because there’s nothing I want more than for Amy Adams to win an Oscar.
Lachlan Guertin
RC: So, do you think Klara and the Sun is worth watching?
LG: I think I am glad I watched it because I enjoyed Jenna Ortega’s performance, especially seeing a different side of her. It made me really appreciate her and feel excited about her next career moves. And I also feel like this movie is obviously going to be very popular because of the success of the book. So I am glad I watched it. Would I watch it again? No. If friends ask if they should watch it, I would probably say wait until it’s at home. Wait until it’s on streaming.
RC: I would say you don’t need to go to the cinema. And if you’re not really fans of anyone in the movie, I would maybe say skip it.
LG: If you haven’t read the book or you’re not a fan of Amy Adams or Jenna Ortega, it’s probably not going to appeal to you.
RC: But it wasn’t like the worst night of my life. I’ve had worse!
LG: I would probably give it three stars. It’s fine.
RC: Chuck it on while you’re eating dinner.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Klara and the Sun is in theaters now.
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