Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft Review

Since the launch of the franchise in 1996, the Tomb Raider Series has seen multiple adaptations over the years, namely the big screen incarnations led by Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander as the iconic video game adventurer. So far, however, it hasn’t been given a proper small screen treatment, the only release being 2007 Revised Featuring Minnie Driver voicing the role in five to seven minute episodes. Now, thankfully, it is getting its due Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara CroftWhich proves to be an exciting and modern adaptation, despite some of its flaws.

Developed by The Witcher: Blood Origins Tasha Huo, the Netflix anime acts as a sequel to Crystal Dynamics’ reboot trilogy, picking up with Lara finally returning home after abandoning her friends when an adventure results in the death of someone she cares about. To reunite with her friends and move on from the past, Lara prepares to avoid everything at Croft Manor, only for a cunning thief to take an ancient Chinese artifact that holds mysterious power within it. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft Quickly sends you on a race around the globe to retrieve it.

The Legend of Lara Croft Gives you the best adaptation arc yet

We finally have a reason to care about Lara

One of the biggest problems that has faced not only these Tomb Raider franchise, but many treasure-hunting adventures like it, is the fact that so much effort was put into developing the lore and setpieces for the story that their main character got lost in the mix. Lara Croft is often an unfortunate victim of this genre trend. Jolly Tomb Raider Movies were a case of style and over-sexualization of the adventurer, while Vikander’s reboot attempts to be more in line with the reboot games about her search for her father, only to be set aside.

with Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara CroftHowever, Huo finally gives us a reason to be invested in the story by chronicling how the new adventure takes its toll on the titular character. Given the show served as a sequel to the rebooted game trilogy, it would have been understandable if the showrunner just jumped ahead to when she was an officially established adventurer, but I appreciate she tried to keep Lara as young-and-growing Explorer.

Part of what made the newer games so captivating was the fact that Lara wasn’t an infallible figure, but instead someone who, even with her skills, was capable of making mistakes. This was no more evident than in how she was depicted in her tomb raiding, as by the end of Shadow of the Tomb RaiderShe came to understand some ancient secrets are better left in their hidden homes rather than brought to the world in case the legends of the artifacts’ powers proved true.

Arguably, the best example of this character work is the parallel The Legend of Lara Croft Draws between Hayley Atwell’s titular protagonist and Richard Armitage’s Charles Devereaux. The villain and Lara are shown as two sides of the same coin, with the latter’s growth of the games nicely over the show as she tries to convince him revenge is never worth it, having undergone it herself by bringing down Trinity after her Father’s death. Even still, the show remembers to keep Lara’s empathetic nature intact when she’s brought to the brink of turning villainous.

Powerhouse’s animation is a perfect fit for the world of Tomb Raider

The action is appropriately modern and the tombs beautifully rendered

Beyond just continuing Netflix’s run in the video game adaptation genre following the likes of Arcane And Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft Also see the streaming platform reteam with Powerhouse Animation to bring its source material to life, and they remain one of the best studios for the genre. Before the new show, Powerhouse brought their unique anime style to both Castlevania and its sequel NightAs well as the Monsterverse spinoff Skull Island and Kevin Smith’s sequel show Lords of the Universe.

for The Legend of Lara CroftThe studio’s style really adds to the visceral nature of the show’s action, with everything from car chases to fights with supernatural creatures proving just as exciting as the games. Powerhouse also does a great job of highlighting the splendor of some of the locations that Lara visits throughout the series, with the opening tomb, in particular, feeling as if it was taken from the games not only for its vibrant colors and art design, but also for its adherence to the puzzle nature of its source material.

One of Powerhouse’s best animation decisions is the subtly different styles used to depict some of the show’s more supernatural elements. With each combining of the powerful relics in the show’s history, we see glimpses of a different kind of hand-drawn animation, one that feels thoroughly reminiscent of ancient Chinese artwork, and as such, fits the cultural aesthetic of the Major adventure. While it’s unclear if the show will get future seasons, this one choice alone makes me intrigued to see how Powerhouse would tackle similarly subtle depictions of the ancient artwork of other cultures.

The Legend of Lara Croft’s Story still plays too much into franchise formula

Even with some meaningful stakes, it proves predictable

While its animation may be stunning, and its character development better than previous installments, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft Is ultimately hampered by the fact that it is also safe for the franchise as a whole, playing in its familiar formula. The introduction of a power-hungry villain has some impact as we learn more about his sympathetic motivations and backstory, as well as the apparent death of some familiar faces, but as the show progresses and Devereaux’s powers grow, it ultimately begins to feel far to Predictable for how Lara will finally stop him and save the world.

Despite failing to completely separate itself from previous versions, it’s ultimately encouraging to see the iconic gaming franchise finally get a well-rounded adaptation with Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. There’s no denying it would have been nice to see less of an adherence to the franchise’s formula; It may have stayed true to some of the stakes it established from its opening death, but with previous movies rarely keeping Lara’s character development in mind, you can hope future adaptations, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Tomb Raider Show on Prime Video finds a similar balance of fresh and familiar storytelling.

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft iis now streaming on Netflix. The series consists of 8 episodes.