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Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 93 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Dean Georgaris
Steven E. de Souza (story)
James V. Hart (story)
Directed by: Jan de Bont
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 25, 2003
DVD: November 18, 2003
Running Time: 116 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / Germany / Japan / UK / Netherlands
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality
Starring Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler, CiarĂ¡n Hinds, Chris Barrie, Noah Taylor, Djimon Hounsou, Til Schweiger, and Simon Yam
Demonstrating her physical prowess and revealing her courage as never before, Lara Croft proves that she will stop at nothing in her search for an infamous site know as "The Cradle of Life" -- especially when it means she could save the world from the most unspeakable evil ever known. (Paramount)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
GAMES: Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
In a summer where the special effects in movies have grown steadily more repetitive and dreary, "LCTR:TCOL" uses imagination and exciting locations to give the movie the same kind of pulp adventure feeling we get from the Indiana Jones movies.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A surprise and a not-so-guilty pleasure.
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Somewhat fleeter and more engaging than its predecessor.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Angelina Jolie focuses her wild energy into outlandish heroics, and emerges with more attractiveness and credibility than all three of those silly Charlie's Angels combined.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
However caricatured a vision of female empowerment, Lara Croft exercises an irresistible tug not just on the adolescent male imagination but the 12-year-old female imagination as well.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
Jolie is even hotter, faster and more commanding than last time around as the fearless heiress/adventuress, plus a little more human. The less welcome news is that most of the same shortcomings that cramped the first installment are still dogging the sequel, which delivers on action but dawdles through downtime.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
This Indiana Jones knockoff goes down smoothly enough, and Jolie isn't bad at all, though every time she opened her mouth I expected Mick Jagger to come dancing down her tongue.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Enough goodwill has been built up in the early sections that most viewers will not take offense when the movie abandons its plot and characters.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Croft is one humorless butt-kicker. Excavations in exotic lands have rarely looked so much like items on a to-do list.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole
Isn't nearly as much fun as the original. For one thing, Lara having a boyfriend wrecks everything.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dave Kehr
Emerges as just one more formulaic action film as the title character bounces around the globe in a deadly treasure hunt.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Offers plenty of eye candy, if little else. Ultimately, the film is clearly superior to its predecessor, but that's mostly because the first Tomb Raider left so much room for improvement.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Its faults -- banal dialogue, ludicrous and uninspired plotting, dull but vicious fight scenes -- make you realize just how much the summer action movie has declined in the last few years.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Simply a series of set pieces designed to insure Angelina Jolie's status as action-babe pin-up.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Its not half bad, with cool locations and a great stunt leap from the top of a Hong Kong high-rise.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
Superior to 2001's "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" in almost every way. It's better directed, more consistently acted, and its writing, while at times ridiculous, at least has a modicum of logic at its core. I still had to slap myself to stay awake.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A creditable genre entry, the rare action movie with a discernible story, an assured pace and a charismatic central character. It falls apart in the end.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Even though the special effects and action sequences are good, the monsters conjured up are rather humdrum.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Bombastic it may be, but its rarely boring, as was the first Tomb Raider. Keep your expectations in line with the source material and you may be pleasantly surprised.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
This is a highly enjoyable summer thrill ride with an action heroine who likes to be on top, literally and figuratively.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The movie is all action. But there's no pacing, no suspense and no vulnerability for the protagonist so it all soon gets numbingly tiresome.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Even sex can't save a film that produces instant narcolepsy.
Read Full Review >Premiere Laine Ewen
If only the love story were a little more convincing, she might have saved the world and the movie.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Kevin Carr
Even in the final battle over life and death, the only injury she suffers is a slight scratch on the face. Its too much like a video game.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
Quite simply, the "Tomb Raider" series has been flat-out boring, even with the talented and fun Jolie -- who needs to take off those harnesses and get back to real movies. She deserves better.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
With her bulging blue eyes, elaborately braided hair and slinky spandex costumes, she's an indelible icon of action-heroine chic, and, quite frankly, the films don't deserve her.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
Beneath its satisfactory chops this movie -- like Ms. Croft herself -- is stuffy and soulless.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Competent in the extreme, the talented Jolie would make a great Jane Bond. But mired in this joyless orgy of preposterousness, her biggest challenge is simply keeping a straight face.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
In a summer of surprisingly self-serious comic book movies" Lara Croft "stands out as being particularly humorless.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
If ever there was a movie fit for permanent entombment, it's this sequel.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The worst action movie of the summer. I liked Bad Boys II a little less, but making the comparison is like distinguishing between a cow turd and a horse turd. And that pretty much sums it up nicely.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Another joyless, brain-numbing adventure through lackluster Indiana Jones territory.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
It wouldn't be fair to gripe about the hundreds of plot holes; the whole thing is hole.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 93 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
christian s gave it a4:
A disappointment that has a terrible conclusion and a flimsy script. the first is better.
Colin C gave it an8:
A fun movie that deserves more credit. Although, the video game is still the best.
Marianna S. gave it a10:
One of the best movies ever! Angelina is the best actress. The plot is better than the first movie (which is great, too!).
Jared C. gave it a10:
Way more than the first, it actually has acting, action, fantasy, one of the years best.
Sam gave it a6:
I actually liked the first one better, but they're both fun films. I hate village voice, from this to spider-man 2 and tons of other movies, they usually give good movies bad reviews. Both 1 and 2 need improvement, but if there isn't a sequel i'll be happy with what i got.
Nick V. gave it a 1:
Sorry, but this was pretty bad. There are alot of better ones out there and you can afford to miss this one.
Ron J. gave it a 6:
I'm a Lara Croft fan, but finished this movie wondering when it was going to start. Technically it was good, Jolie was good, but it didn't capture my attention like the original.
