Slick, agile, and of course sexy, Lara Croft became a video game icon. Her appearance was one of the few to break the mold set by cartoonish characters aimed directly at an adolescent audience. With the character's popularity booming, Paramount let $80 million loose for the film adaptation, and succeeded amazingly well from a financial standpoint.

Angelina Jolie in the role of heroine Lara Croft was a flawless casting call. Her attitude, charisma, and athleticism let her own the screen while capturing the qualities of the character. The added padding to her breasts to get them as accurate as possible didn't happen on accident either.

Tomb Raider is an action film, one that calls for an astounding level of disbelief. Croft is an adventurer, living for nothing other than tracking down the latest in high priced artifacts. For the amazing life and world changing items she finds, it's tough to believe she only has one true enemy.

Aside from her over-the-top and energetic fight scenes, the movie plays out straight. The right dash of comedy nicely fits within the tone, though it poorly delves into time travel without any surprise or shock from anyone, including the audience. The latter can only groan as the conclusion falls apart amidst a nice action set piece.

The high budget allows Tomb Raider to create a sheen look. Some of the computer generated effects end up flat and obvious. With the rapid pace of the editing, there is little time to dwell on these problems. Far too much energy is given to the fun choreography to care.

It's nice to see the script is allowed to expand upon the game's mythos, though they don't always mix perfectly from a story standpoint. What's important is that the character is captured, and countless video game-based movies have missed this entirely. Fans of the game will recognize Lara's agility and moves.

Tomb Raider also strays from an obvious Indiana Jones comparison. The elaborate set-ups and similar concepts are certainly in place, but you never feel as if the writers or director has purposely become "inspired." Lara is definitely her own character and can stand out against any competition.

The film does drag in spots and a few edits wouldn't have hurt. It's by no means an intelligent effort either, relying entirely on its looks rather than logic or brains. That's exactly what this is a meant to be though, a rousing summer blockbuster. You can't take a lot away from Tomb Raider when you're in that mindset.