Taika Waititi’s ‘Klara and the Sun’ Gets Scathing Guardian Review
?s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel premiered at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival, where a Guardian review called the film sentimental and laborious. The…
Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel ‘Klara and the Sun’ premiered at BFI Southbank during the 2026 BFI London Film Festival. A Guardian review called the film a “sentimental and laborious mess,” criticizing its treatment of artificial intelligence, love and grief.
The film casts Jenna Ortega as Klara, an artificial friend robot bought for a teenage girl. Mia Tharia plays Josie, while Amy Adams appears as her mother. The Guardian review said the story turns Ishiguro’s AI-focused fable into a tale of love and grief that fails to offer anything substantial or meaningful about those subjects.
That is a pointed assessment of a film built around the possibility that robots might have intelligence or feelings. The review described the result as “soft-centred sci-fi-lite,” faulting it for asking viewers to respond to its humor and emotional moments without making either convincing.
A robot built to be lovable
Ortega plays Klara as a sweet-natured, childlike figure. The character is an earlier model of artificial friend, solar-powered and less sophisticated than newer versions that run on Bluetooth, according to the review. Klara worships the sun and becomes convinced it lives above a nearby barn.
Her new owner, Josie, is a 14-year-old genius-prodigy who has undergone a surgical procedure to enter a super-IQ class. She is also lonely and has an unspecified illness. The family lives in a distant home in a dreamlike Midwest farming landscape, with the city visible only far away.
The setup links Klara’s vulnerabilities to Josie’s. But the review argues that the film’s whimsy and sentiment do not develop into a persuasive account of either character’s troubles. The ending, it said, feels contrived and unsatisfying.
The Guardian also questioned details in the film’s imagined future. A salesperson played by Natasha Lyonne says a recent third world war wiped out the internet, while the robots have purple blood called PEC-9, described in the film as “highly flammable.” The review said the world otherwise appears to be in good shape despite the internet’s disappearance.
Rita Ora attends the premiere
Waititi’s earlier films include ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ and ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ both cited by the reviewer as examples of his ability with comedy. The review instead compared ‘Klara and the Sun’ with ‘Jojo Rabbit,’ describing both as misjudged and self-admiring.
It also contrasted the film with other stories about artificial children. The review named Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘Sheep in the Box’ and Kogonada’s ‘After Yang,’ calling the latter a more interesting and persuasive film about AI child robots.
Rita Ora attended the premiere to support her husband, Waititi, at BFI Southbank on Thursday during the festival. Yahoo reported that she wore a black lace ArdAzAei Fall 2026 Couture gown and a Philip Treacy Fall 2017 headpiece.
The film is adapted by Waititi from Ishiguro’s novel, and its central character is a solar-powered artificial friend.
Source: theguardian.com
