Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Play trailer

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

PG-13

Released Jul 25, 2003

1h 58m

Adventure

Action

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

24%

Tomatometer

174 Reviews

44%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Fearless explorer Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) tries to locate Pandora's box before criminals Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds) and Chen Lo (Simon Yam) use it for evil. According to myth, the box holds deadly organisms that could kill millions of people. With her old partner, Terry (Gerard Butler), Croft goes on a hunt that takes her from Europe to Asia to Africa, where pal Kosa (Djimon Hounsou) helps her. Along the way, Croft rappels down cliffs, scuba dives and decimates many male opponents.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

Critics Consensus

Though the sequel is an improvement over the first movie, it's still lacking in thrills.

Read Critics Reviews

David Ansen

Newsweek

It's not half bad, with cool locations and a great stunt leap from the top of a Hong Kong high-rise. Unlike the wink-winking Charlie's Angels, Croft 2 mostly, and wisely, keeps a straight face.

Mar 13, 2018

Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Better than the first, but not by much.

Rated: 2/5

Dec 25, 2010

Full Review

David Rooney

Variety

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.

Apr 12, 2010

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Even the rock-tree monsters that appear late in the game look familiar - perhaps disgruntled extras from the set of Fraggle Rock.

Rated: 1.5/4

Jun 6, 2021

Full Review

Allison Rose

FlickDirect

Jolie once again does an impressive job as the iconic video game heroine and her banter with a very young-looking Butler is convincing.

Rated: 2.5/5

Jun 2, 2021

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

It might be ever-so-slightly better than the last one, but that level of improvement is virtually unquantifiable.

Rated: 2/10

Oct 9, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Liam D

Less Raiders of The Lost Ark and more Die Another Day. There is some cheesy fun to be had but the film is surprisingly dull and not even Angelina Jolie (Playing God, Hackers) is trying but it has an solid score by Alan Silvestri (She’s Out of Control, The Clan of the Cave Bear)

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

11/17/24

Full Review

Karl P

Sorry to see Ms. Jolie and Mr. Butler and Mr. Hinds doing their best to pump some life into this poorly written poorly plotted film. It began dramatically enough with the earthquake upsetting a wedding reception in Santorini but went downhill pretty quickly after that. There were so many moments where I was left to ask "why?" and so many things that made no snse.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/11/24

Full Review

Twiggy H

Some great action acting but not as great of a movie story. Is quite disappointing for films to use actual aspects of historical mythology for completely fictional stories.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

08/16/24

Full Review

Master Y

While it's not a entertaining as the first one, some of the scenes are frankly quite stunning. Hong Kong is beautiful from angle. Angelina Jolie works as Lara Croft... about as much as anyone could... Gerald Butler add the counterpoint and plays well off of Jolie, giving her a rare bit of female humanity. While Ciaran Hinds is one of my all time favorite actors, his villain is lacking enthusiasm or panache. Ian Glen was very much better in number 1 as the villain.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/23/24

Full Review

Georgan G

Lots of amazing special effects and scary stunts with Angelina Jolie, as in the original, still the best part.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/12/24

Full Review

Mason B

really good movie 10/10

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/09/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Jan de Bont

Director

Angelina Jolie

Lara Croft

Gerard Butler

Terry Sheridan

Ciarán Hinds

Jonathan Reiss

Chris Barrie

Hillary

Noah Taylor

Bryce

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Die Another Day

56%

41%

Die Another Day

Watchlist

Sahara

37%

53%

Sahara

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Sahara

Elektra

11%

29%

Elektra

Watchlist

Catwoman

8%

18%

Catwoman

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Catwoman

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

77%

53%

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Wait, What? "Point Break 2"? And Another "Tomb Raider"?

Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie Are "Wanted" for Graphic Novel Adaptation

Will Angelina Jolie Be Returning for "Tomb Raider 3"?

View more photos

Synopsis

Fearless explorer Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) tries to locate Pandora's box before criminals Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds) and Chen Lo (Simon Yam) use it for evil. According to myth, the box holds deadly organisms that could kill millions of people. With her old partner, Terry (Gerard Butler), Croft goes on a hunt that takes her from Europe to Asia to Africa, where pal Kosa (Djimon Hounsou) helps her. Along the way, Croft rappels down cliffs, scuba dives and decimates many male opponents.

Director: Jan de Bont
Producer: Lloyd Levin, Lawrence Gordon
Screenwriter: Dean Georgaris, Steven E. de Souza, James V. Hart
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Mutual Film Company, BBC
Rating: PG-13 (Some Sensuality|Action/Violence)
Genre: Adventure, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 25, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $65.7M
Runtime: 1h 58m
Sound Mix: Surround

Most Popular at Home Now