Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

So monumentally silly, yet so wondrous to look at, that only a churl could find fault.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Rather than the mad, kinetic video-game vigor you'd expect, the movie proceeds at a more leisurely and methodical gait. I rather liked that.

Slate David Edelstein

She's (Jolie) the most amazing special effect in movies. The best thing in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a bungee-jumping ballet that Lara performs late at night in her mansion, soaring high and low in Japanese silk pajamas and with her hair pulled tightly back.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

As cumbersome as most films in this subgenre, Angelina Jolie makes it watchable.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Unafraid to look absurd but lacks the self-conviction needed to come off as camp.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

Ultimately, Jolie's efforts to establish a character are dashed against the film's increasingly inane dialogue.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

This is just cut-rate, generic daughter of Indy Jones hokum.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

I realize fantasy-based action movies aren't supposed to be as complex as William Gibson's novels. But do they have to be this simple-minded?

Newsweek Jeff Giles

Couldn’t have arrived at a better time: movies have been so bad lately that audiences are positively starving for something mediocre.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A by-the-numbers extravanganza that journeys from London to Venice to Siberia to Cambodia without ever really going anywhere.

Miami Herald Cary Darling

The relevant question is: does it rock? And the answer, unfortunately, is no.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

There's no clear plot, no memorable villains, no real logic. But there sure is action.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Has all the appeal of a video game without the joystick. All you can do is watch. It's noisy and moves fast, but if you can't play, why pay?

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's all about action and ogling -- Jolie's boobs, butt and thighs get so much screen time they deserve their own credits.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

If only the story that surrounds this watchable heroine were as well-stacked.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The opportunity to give Jolie the room to swagger like the "Charlie's Angels" or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" ladies is utterly squandered, and a video game franchise that might've resulted in a hoot of a film -- has been blown to dust.

Film.com Gemma Files

She's not a real person, in any way, shape or form -- which makes watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, the first in a projected series of live-action films based around her exploits, a visually spectacular yet oddly cheerless experience.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Game boys and girls will be disappointed by this fast-paced but shockingly dull adaptation.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Has the distinction of being a major motion picture that's far less imaginative, and quite a bit more stupid, than the interactive game it's based on.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Slick-dick director Simon West, of "Con Air" and "The General's Daughter" infamy, continues to show no flair at all for blending action and character. Jolie and Lara deserved better. So did we.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Such an inept bundle of work -- crying out for the filmmaking equivalent of Ritalin, but still sluggish as syrup -- that it doesn't even provide an opportunity to ogle properly.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Sitting through the lavish and dumb action spectacular Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is about as much fun as watching someone else play a video game.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

These are good moments, and there are a few others, that prevent Tomb Raider from being one of the worst films of the year. But they're not enough to make it worth seeing.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Since the expensive new movie version of the popular video game, Tomb Raider, is very true to its origins, it's a colossal bore.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A staggeringly bad picture: a shallow, cliche-ridden mess that keeps blowing up on screen.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The effects are cheesy, the photography is murky, the sets look like leftovers from a Las Vegas stage spectacular -- and the flick appears to have been edited with a roulette wheel.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Remarkably joyless, even though Ms. Jolie is a formidable presence with the potential for becoming a witty one.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Almost completely lacking in genuine thrills. Even the attractive presence of star Angelina Jolie can't keep this leaden, plodding, completely underwhelming film from playing like "Lara Croft: Yawn Inducer."

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

So pandering and pebble-brained you'd guess it had been test-screened on barnyard animals.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It is the perfect modern product: loud, banal, empty, frenzied, plasticized, flavorless, drab, violent in a bloodless way and sexy in a sexless way.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The game is great fun -- the movie ought to be taken out back and shot.