Klara and the Sun Review: Taika Waititi’s Ishiguro Adaptation Misses the Quiet Heart of the Novel

3 hours ago

0 0 4 minutes read

Klara and the Sun Review: Taika Waititi's Ishiguro Adaptation Misses the Quiet Heart of the Novel

Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel Klara and the Sun is a quiet, strange, and deeply moving book. It’s told through the eyes of an android who doesn’t fully understand the world around her, and it gradually reveals a future full of loneliness, inequality, and loss. It’s the kind of story that seems to resist being turned into a movie, because so much of its power comes from what the narrator can’t see.

Taika Waititi, the New Zealand filmmaker behind Jojo Rabbit and What We Do in the Shadows, took on that challenge. He wrote the screenplay with Dahvi Waller, directed the film, and produced it with David Heyman and Garrett Basch. After its world premiere at the London Film Festival, Sony Pictures Releasing opens it in US and UK theaters on October 23, 2026, with a global rollout that begins on October 21. The film runs 116 minutes and is rated PG-13 in the US.

The Story: An Artificial Friend Looking for a Home

Klara, played by Jenna Ortega, is an Artificial Friend, or AF, a solar-powered android designed to be a companion for children. She spends her days in a shop window, watching the world outside and studying the sun, which she treats almost like a god because it gives her energy. Her only wish is to find the perfect home.

One day, a teenager named Josie, played by newcomer Mia Tharia, spots her through the glass and chooses her. Josie is a wealthy, sickly teenager who has been “lifted,” meaning her genetic makeup was enhanced so she could join an elite group of the brightest young people. Her relationship with her mother, Chrissie, played by Amy Adams, is strained, and the family has suffered a great loss. Klara moves into their home and begins to learn about the people around her. Her innocent wonder and fierce loyalty slowly begin to change the household, and she becomes determined to help Josie, whose illness grows more serious.

The supporting cast includes Steve Buscemi, Natasha Lyonne, Rachel House as the wary housekeeper Melania, and Aran Murphy as Josie’s friend Rick. Jesse Griffin plays a scarecrow-like AF that guards farmland, which is one of the film’s more eccentric touches.

Where the Film Finds Its Footing

The strongest parts of the movie are the performances at its center. Ortega gives Klara a wide-eyed, earnest quality that fits the character perfectly. She moves and speaks with a stiff, careful curiosity, and she makes Klara’s fascination with simple things, like sunlight or a stranger’s kindness, feel genuine. For fans of her work on Wednesday, it’s a very different kind of role, softer and more open.

Tharia is just as impressive. For a young actress in her first major role, she plays Josie with confidence, charm, and a sense of fragility that makes the story’s stakes feel real. The scenes between Ortega and Tharia, in which a robot and a sick girl slowly form a bond, are where the film comes closest to the novel’s emotion. The early stretch also creates a pleasant storybook world, with a warm look and a gentle tone that helps you understand why Klara finds her surroundings so enchanting.

Where It Loses the Novel

The problem is tone. Ishiguro’s book is quiet and melancholy, with humor that emerges from Klara’s misunderstandings. Waititi’s film leans much more heavily into comedy and quirkiness. Many of the jokes are broad, and several scenes, especially those with the Scarecrow AF and the other eccentric characters, feel like they belong in a different movie. Waititi’s trademark humor is both his greatest strength and the film’s biggest problem, because it keeps puncturing the sadness the story needs.

The film also treats its themes in a heavy-handed way. The novel quietly explores big questions about love, mortality, and what makes a person unique. The movie says them out loud. Class divisions, genetic engineering, and the replacement of humans by machines are all present, but they’re introduced with little subtlety, and the message about artificial intelligence feels more obvious than insightful. Waititi has called this his most dramatic film, but the drama rarely lands with the power it should.

Adams is another disappointment. As Chrissie, she’s asked to play a mixture of haughtiness and sorrow, but the combination never comes together, and the character feels unconvincing next to the younger actors, who commit fully to the story’s strange world. The ending also feels lackluster, which means the emotional payoff is weaker than it should be. By the time the credits roll, the film has more ideas than feelings.

Is It Worth Seeing?

If you love the novel, expect a respectful adaptation that changes the tone and loses some of its subtlety. If you’ve never read it, the film may feel like a pleasant but uneven sci-fi fable with two good young performances.

Fans of Ortega and Waititi may still find something to enjoy, particularly in the first half, but those hoping for a deeply affecting drama are likely to leave disappointed. Some viewers may still prefer to read the book and imagine Klara’s world for themselves.

The Verdict

Klara and the Sun has a beautiful premise, a charming lead performance from Jenna Ortega, and a standout debut from Mia Tharia. But Waititi’s comic instincts and a heavy-handed script drain the story of the quiet wonder that made the novel special. It’s a well-meaning adaptation that never finds its heart.

Rating: 3/5

Watch the Trailer

Quick Facts

Title: Klara and the Sun
Director: Taika Waititi
Writers: Taika Waititi, Dahvi Waller (based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel)
Genre: Science Fiction, Drama
Runtime: 1h 56m (116 minutes)
Rated: PG-13 (US), 12A (UK)
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi, Natasha Lyonne, Rachel House, Jesse Griffin
Producers: David Heyman, Garrett Basch, Taika Waititi
Production companies: Columbia Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Heyday Films
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Premiere: London Film Festival 2026
Release dates: Global rollout from October 21, 2026; Australia, October 22; US and UK, October 23