Jenna Ortega's New Sci-Fi Film Becomes Taika Waititi's Worst-Reviewed Movie

At the end of last month, we learned that production had been completed on the third season of Wednesday, Jenna Ortega's beloved Netflix series. Everyone's favorite nihilistic teen psychic will return for what some are whispering will be the show's final outing, with the latest mystery set to be darker and more twisted than before. Eva Green joins the cast as Morticia's long-missing sister, Ophelia, with the Addams clan continuing to expand as the series' popularity grows.

Wednesday is certainly Ortega's most career-defining performance so far, with her best results coming from the small screen. In contrast to her streaming popularity, the undeniably talented actress has fared much worse when it comes to big screen projects. Aside from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Ortega's recent films have all been panned by critics, including the likes of Death of a Unicorn, Miller's Girl, Winter Spring Summer or Fall, and the utterly disastrous Hurry Up Tomorrow.

With that in mind, many were hoping that Ortega could shake off this poor trend with her latest movie, as she teams up with director Taika Waititi in Klara and the Sun. Based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, this bonkers sci-fi effort also features Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi, and Natasha Lyonne, and was hotly anticipated by fans of both the source material and the talented names involved. Alas, following the first round of reviews, it seems that Ortega's terrible run is set to continue. At the time of writing, Klara and the Sun has a score of just 25% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the second-lowest in her entire career and the lowest of Waititi's.

What Did Critics Say About 'Klara and the Sun'?

Given that the source material was so well received that it was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, you might be wondering where it all went wrong for this Waititi adaptation? According to ScreenRant's Ben Gibbons, the film "suffers from a lack of depth" and is "missing the heart that it desperately needs to come to life." Another critic bashed the film for stripping "away everything insightful and affecting from Kazuo Ishiguro's novel," although a few did praise a "delightful performance from Jenna Ortega."