REVIEW: “Klara And The Sun” – Taika Waititi’s Take On Kazuo Ishiguro’s Novel Somehow Lacks Depth

Klara and the Sun: ★★

Klara and the Sun is a film that blends the innocence of a wide-eyed, box-fresh AI companion with the real-life human emotions of loss and love, something our AI friend isn’t necessarily privy to. While exploring themes of companionship, loneliness, and grief, Taika Waititi’s take on Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun has a certain robotic feeling that has nothing to do with wires or an exoskeleton. 

I guess it’s a shame, and somewhat scary, that the concept of corporeal artificial intelligence companions being sold at ‘friend stores’ on high streets just doesn’t seem all that foreign anymore. For a film that confronts two very real, contemporary subjects, AI and ‘biohacking’, the depiction failed to evoke much interest.

We follow Klara (played by Jenna Ortega), an older, solar-powered generation model AF (Artificial Friend) who gets purchased by work-focused mother Chrissie (Amy Adams) at the behest of her daughter Josie (Mia Tharia). Going to live with Josie and her often-absent mother in the countryside, Klara has a lot to learn about the world, and Josie is a fountain of knowledge, with the two hitting it off instantly. The most genuine and interesting element of Klara and the Sun is the dynamic between Josie and Klara, who need each other for utterly different reasons. Their relationship does explore a lesser-trodden pathway for AI robots, one that is fundamentally complex, loving, and somewhat human. 

The film throws up some more sinister manifestations of loss and love, ones that are objectively shocking and morally askew, but they fail to truly hit home. Perhaps having a robot narrator who is trying to understand the concept of love doesn’t quite allow for the very human dynamics of loss, loneliness, and trauma to have as much of an effect… or maybe it just didn’t land. I remember thinking, ‘oh wow that’s really messed up’, but not recoiling in my chair, or being actively shocked. Something just felt non-committal. 

That’s not to say that there was zero emotion in the film. Klara’s innocence and faith in the sun feel (ironically) real, and the relationship, or lack thereof, between Josie and Chrissie is something that does hit home. 

Unlike other Taika Waititi films, the humour felt manufactured and overly choreographed. Caricatured genetically modified rich kids and a clumsy slapstick robot walking into a staircase just didn’t do it for me, I’m afraid. 

Klara and the Sun was clean and cute; it threw up some very real questions of ethics, but these were often left unconfronted, or underdiscussed. For a story about the friendship between a quasi-synthesised human genius and a naive synthetic robot, it lacked humour. For a film about the strained relationship between a mother and daughter, it lacked emotion. For a movie set in a post-internet futuristic society, it just wasn’t all that interesting. 

Klara and the Sun comes out in UK cinemas 23 October 2026.

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