"LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE"
(2003) (Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Minor	Moderate	Extreme	*Moderate	Extreme
Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Moderate	Minor	Heavy	None	Mild
Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	None	None	Mild	Extreme

---

QUICK TAKE:

Action/Adventure: An adventurous archaeologist sets out to stop a biological terrorist from finding and unleashing the deadly contents of Pandora's Box.

PLOT:

Lara Croft (ANGELINA JOLIE) has arrived off the coast of Greece to investigate Alexander the Great's Luna Temple that's just been unearthed by an earthquake. Beyond the bounty of archaeological artifacts, the tomb raider is most interested in finding a magical orb that serves as a map to the legendary Pandora's Box. Located in the Cradle of Life, the box contains a powerful, deadly and unstoppable force that could kill millions.

Lara wants to prevent that from happening, but Asian criminal Chen Lo (SIMON YAM) and his men arrive on the scene, battle Lara and take the orb. They intend on selling it to former scientist turned biological terrorist Jonathan Reiss (CIARÁN HINDS) who in turn wants to sell its contents to the highest bidder.

Realizing she'll have a hard time finding Chen Lo in China, Lara secures the release of former agent turned traitor Terry Sheridan (GERARD BUTLER), who just so happens to also be her former lover. The two then set out, with the remote aid of computer expert Bryce (NOAH TAYLOR) and African native Kosa (DIJIMON HOUNSOU), to find Chen Lo and stop Reiss from using the orb to find Pandora's Box and then unleashing its deadly contents.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

If they're fans of the first film or anyone in the cast, they probably will.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13

For action violence and some sensuality.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

ANGELINA JOLIE plays an adventurous archaeologist of sorts who sets out to find and stop Reiss from using Pandora's Box to kill millions. She fights and kills various people along the way and briefly fools around with Terry.

CIARÁN HINDS plays a former scientist turned biological terrorist who wants to sell the deadly contents of Pandora's Box to the highest bidder. He's responsible for the deaths of various people.

GERARD BUTLER plays Lara's former lover, a former agent turned traitor whom she gets out of prison to assist her. He also fights with and kills various bad guys, and briefly fools around with her.

NOAH TAYLOR plays Lara's computer expert assistant.

DIJIMON HOUNSOU plays an African native who assists Lara.

SIMON YAM plays a Chinese criminal who battles with Lara and is responsible for the deaths of various people.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

---

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

---

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

Here's a quick look at the content found in this action-adventure film that's been rated PG-13. Violence consists of various scenes of people fighting (punching, kicking and otherwise hitting) and/or killing or attempting to kill others (via gunfire, knives, spears and falling into a pool of acid, etc.), while several monsters attack and kill various people. Some of those scenes have bloody results and could possibly be intense, suspenseful or even scary to younger viewers.

Some of the stunts and fighting scenes may be enticing for some kids to imitate, while profanity consists of at least 1 "s" word and a handful of other expletives. Some colorful phrases and brief innuendo are also present. A partial sexual encounter between a man and woman (making out, heavy breathing, close body contact and some non-intercourse related movement) occurs.

Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while some brief drinking is present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, quite a bit of that occurs near the end of the movie.

---

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

People have champagne and wine at a wedding.

People have wine on a plane.

BLOOD/GORE

Lara purposefully slices her arm with a knife while underwater with resultant blood into the water. This attracts a large and menacing shark (but Lara uses it to pull her toward the surface).

We see that Reiss has poisoned a man's wine with a form of Ebola. That prompts the man to spit up blood into his glass and then onto a handkerchief. We then see blood from this man's mouth as he dies.

We see a tiny bit of blood on a man's sides during a fight, while a slice on his leg is also slightly bloody.

A man forcibly holds Lara's head down onto a table (where we see a little blood).

Terry knocks out two men, with one having a little bit of blood from his nose.

We see what looks like blood on a rock formation (that one man touches). We later see more such blood.

A man falls into a pool of acid and briefly writhes about in it as he dissolves and makes screaming sounds (only briefly seen).

Lara has a bloody cut on her hand and a few smaller ones on her face. She later has a slightly bloody lip after a man backhands her.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

Reiss and his associates all have extreme bad attitudes for their diabolical plans and for killing various people.

Reiss states that he's sold saran gas and typhoid to others for terrorist purposes. He also threatens to harm another villain's children if he doesn't comply.

We hear that Terry turned mutinous toward his government (in the past).

One of Lara's associates turns bad and greedy.

FRIGHTENING SCENES

Scenes listed under "Violence" might also be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers (especially younger ones, but older kids will likely have little, if any problem with the material).

An earthquake strikes a coastal cliff-side area of Greece, causing property damage during a wedding. Later, an aftershock in an underwater temple causes much of it to collapse.

Lara purposefully slices her arm with a knife while underwater with resultant blood into the water. This attracts a large and menacing shark (but Lara uses it to pull her toward the surface).

We hear various monster-like sounds in a scary looking forest. Various large monsters then attack various people (quickly swooping in and grabbing and/or yanking them into the ground or rock formations) who wildly fire back at them. Later, more monsters attack or come after people (before dissolving when Lara puts an orb in its place).

A man falls into a pool of acid and briefly writhes about in it as he dissolves and makes screaming sounds (as Lara hangs above it).

GUNS/WEAPONS

Handguns/Rifles/Machine guns/Swords/Knives: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound or kill people and/or cause property damage.

While riding on horseback, Lara uses a rifle and handgun to shoot various targets.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "Holy sh*t," "What the hell is going on?" "Bugger," "Piss off" and "Do shut up."

All of the stunts and fighting might be enticing for some kids to try to imitate.

Lara does many stunts on her jet ski, including flipping over on it.

While riding on horseback, Lara uses a rifle and handgun to shoot various targets.

Lara dives through a glass wall.

JUMP SCENES

The sudden appearance of a menacing shark might startle some viewers.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

A heavy amount of suspenseful and action-oriented music plays in the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

None.

PROFANITY

At least 1 "s" word, 2 asses (1 used with "hole"), 1 bugger, 1 damn, 1 hell and 3 uses of "Oh my God."

SEX/NUDITY

We see Lara in a bikini that reveals cleavage. She later wears a skintight diving suit that partially shows her nipples beneath the stretched material.

After Terry says that he doesn't expect anything from an English woman (not referring to sex), Lara replies that's good since "You're not going to get anything" (innuendo).

Terry tells Lara, "Don't be looking at my ass" as they travel on foot (clothed).

We see Lara with just a sheet around her (or what looks like that), while Terry is shirtless. The two end up passionately kissing, with him on top of her between her legs. She's then on top of him (showing some cleavage), there's more passionate kissing, some heavy breathing and partial movement (although they're not having sex). She then cuffs one of his hands to something, prompting him to say that's not what he had in mind, but that it's okay (said with playful enthusiasm). Nothing else sexual happens, however, as she was simply trapping him there, but we see the tops of her breasts as that sheet rides low.

Lara and Terry briefly but passionately kiss.

SMOKING

None.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

The origins of life.

Pandora's Box.

The portrayal of a female action star figure.

VIOLENCE

An earthquake strikes a coastal cliff-side area of Greece, causing property damage.

Some villains shoot a man with a spear-gun while one slits another man's throat (both briefly seen and with no blood). They then shoot more spears at Lara, with one grazing her leg. She shoots back at them with her guns as well as at the temple interior to cause part of it to collapse on them. Additional earthquake aftershock collapsing occurs and others are presumably killed or injured.

Lara purposefully slices her arm with a knife while underwater with resultant blood into the water. This attracts a large and menacing shark (but Lara uses it to pull her toward the surface after punching it on the nose).

We see that Reiss has poisoned a man's wine with a form of Ebola. That prompts the man to spit up blood into his glass and then onto a handkerchief. We then see blood from this man's mouth as he dies.

Lara spars with a man with fighting sticks. She trips him and purposefully smashes a vase.

Lara and Terry ride in a small jet from which they then purposefully eject (after its skimming across a body of water swamps a local man in his boat). The jet then crashes and rips apart.

Some men manhandle another guy and then push him back against a metal door. After pouring something into his eyes and him not answering a question, one stabs and kills him (no impact or blood is seen).

Lara holds a gun on Terry. Other then hold guns on both of them and knock them to the ground (where one kicks Terry).

As Terry's large former partner proceeds to punch and otherwise hit him repeatedly, Lara gets into a fight with another villain. He comes at her with a sword and breaks many statues while trying to strike her (and possibly grazes her with the blade). She ends up throwing two broken pole pieces at him, impaling them near his sides (we see a tiny bit of blood on him). She then blocks his sword blows with a rifle, stabs him in the foot with its bayonet and then hits him in the face with the rifle, knocking him to the ground. She then slices his leg, with a little resultant blood. That man then tries to shoot Lara but misses. In turn, she throws a knife that impales him in his chest, presumably killing him.

Terry fights with other people; Lara hits and strikes some of them, and the two escape by rappelling as others fire machine guns at them. Terry shoots at least one of them.

Lara opens fire on Reiss's chopper, prompting others to shoot at her and each other (resulting in property damage and blown out car windows).

Terry hits a man with something, knocking him out.

People shoot at Lara and Terry.

Reiss shoots and kills a criminal associate.

Terry and Lara hold guns on a man as they enter a lab. They then strike (hitting and kicking) a number of people, knocking them out.

Lara shoots several people (we don't know if they're dead) and dives and shoots at others.

Lara and a bad guy shoot at each other. She then shoots various glass panels above him, causing the glass to fall down on him (injuring him). She then shoots various computer monitors. Men then hold guns on Lara as one forcibly holds her head down onto a table (where we see a little blood).

Terry shoots and kills various bad guys (no blood).

People shoot at an exterior elevator carrying Terry and Lara. Later, they shoot at them as they jump off the roof (wearing glider-like apparel).

A bad guy holds a gun on Bryce.

Reiss's men open fire on some tribesmen, killing many of them (but one manages to throw a spear that impales a gunman - no blood). Lara also shoots some of the gunmen before others hold guns on her and two other people.

Terry knocks out two men, with one having a little bit of blood from his nose.

We hear various monster-like sounds in a scary looking forest. Various large monsters then attack various people (quickly swooping in and grabbing and/or yanking them into the ground or rock formations) who wildly fire back at them.

Reiss shoots at Kosa's foot. He then holds a gun on Lara, but she knocks him down. A man then tackles Lara as she runs off, but she kicks him and one of the monsters then attacks and presumably kills him and others.

A man holds a gun on Lara. She kicks him down, they struggle and she kicks him in the face. He then shoots at her several times as she runs off. Moments later, she punches him, he grabs her by the throat and pushes her back against some rocks and they struggle some more (with more punches, etc.).

A man falls into a pool of acid and briefly writhes about in it as he dissolves and makes screaming sounds (as Lara hangs above it).

A man backhands Lara. He then reaches for his gun, but she shoots him dead (we don't see the impact and there's no blood).

Reviewed July 23, 2003 / Posted July 25, 2003

Other new and recent reviews include:

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

All Rights Reserved,
©1996-2022 Screen It, Inc.