Jenna Ortega is going back to the big screen with Klara and the Sun. As the first opinions came in, the sci-fi comedy didn’t have the reception it would’ve wanted.
Klara and the Sun holds a “rotten” 25% rating from critics after its debut on the review-aggregator website. However, that only comes from 12 reviews, and it might fluctuate as more opinions come through. While that might change, Klara and the Sun’s rating debut continues an underwhelming Rotten Tomatoes trend for Ortega.
Jenna Ortega’s Continues a Negative 2-Year-Old Rotten Tomatoes Trend
In the early 2020s, Jenna Ortega starred in a series of critically acclaimed films. 2021’s The Fallout, 2022’s Scream, X, and 2023’s Scream VI all got Certified Fresh scores from critics, with only 2022’s Studio 666 and American Carnage breaking that trend with two underwhelming “rotten” scores.
After Scream VI came out, the Wednesday star received two negative scores for 2023’s Finestkind and 2024’s Miller’s Girl, before getting a positive score for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The Tim Burton sequel was the last positive score Ortega received on the movies side, as Winter Spring Summer or Fall features a “rotten” 31% rating, 2025’s Death of a Unicorn has a 52% rating, and Hurry Up Tomorrow has her lowest score of all time, 14%.
Klara and the Sun is currently Ortega’s second-lowest rating, just below Finestkind’s 27%. It’s also Taika Waititi’s lowest score of all time as a director, and ties with 2011’s Green Lantern, in which he starred.
Slant Magazine’s David Robb explained the low score, describing it as “a faithful adaptation that nevertheless strips away everything insightful and affecting from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel.”
Little White Lies’ David Jenkins added, “This potentially rich subject matter is squandered by Waititi who has a juvenile habit of undercutting any hint at profundity with a jolt of silly humour or a comic rug pull.” The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey jumped in, “The book was about who we fundamentally are, now and tomorrow. The film is about the power of love and friendship. That seems like quite the downgrade.”
Klara and the Sun Adapts a Popular Novel
The Jenna Ortega-led, Taika Waititi-directed sci-fi comedy is based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel of the same name. The film is set in a dystopian future where technological advances in genetic engineering have divided humans into strict, isolated social classes; an obsolete companion android named Klara tries to bond with Josie, a sick girl for whom she was purchased.
Aside from Ortega, Klara and the Sun also stars Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi, and Natasha Lyonne.
Hollywood has adapted several Kazuo Ishiguro titles, including 1993’s The Remains of the Day, 2010’s Never Let Me Go, and 2025’s A Pale View of the Hills. Ahead of Klara and the Sun’s release, the author is teaming up with Tim Burton on a new movie, this time an original story. Burton is expected to direct from a script written by Ishiguro.
Klara and the Sun is hitting theaters on Oct. 23.
- Release Date
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October 23, 2026
- Runtime
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116 minutes
- Director
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Taika Waititi
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