Tomb Raider Movie & Show Ranking: Best to Worst Adaptations!

Grab Your Pickaxe! Ranking Every Tomb Raider movie and Show!

Tomb Raider Adaptations: From Raids to Reboots (and Everything In Between!)

The Tomb Raider franchise is massive– games, comics, books… even movies and TV shows! Some adaptations totally nailed it; some, well, not so much! This article's your guide. We’re ranking every Tomb Raider movie and show from worst to best, highlighting what works, what flops, and what makes these productions actually good or totally bad!

The franchise's massive size (two decades and beyond!), creates unique opportunities – yet also those issues around sticking to those previously established lore or branching into something completely different which really might appeal to certain fans! From Angelina Jolie’s iconic portrayal to the Alicia Vikander reboot and even the surprisingly enjoyable animated series; there's tons of Tomb Raider content available! These choices completely altered what could be included and produced various adaptations catering to both existing and new audiences. Let's jump in and find out which did it better!

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4. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001): Angelina Jolie’s Initial Attempt

Angelina Jolie's first Lara Croft movie isn’t horrible. It made $274.7 million against an $115 million budget. It’s a high-grossing video game adaptation– that's already pretty amazing! It deserves praise for showcasing an extremely capable female lead; an absolute force of action and adventure and she completely nails Lara’s charisma! The problem? The plot itself. Critics hated this and audience opinions were a mixed bag at best: It lacks everything besides awesome action sequences, failing to do much more and create deeper thematic elements that made its otherwise action-heavy plot less enjoyable to follow.

3. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003): A Better Action Flick

Jolie’s second outing was better than its predecessor and earned a little more praise. The action stepped up. Jolie's performance was significantly better; capturing Lara's strengths more directly; however; there are other big problems, The plot lacks that core coherence that some earlier versions attempted to develop, emphasizing an action movie with little depth. And, box office? Underwhelming; this earned barely $160 million against a $95 million budget. It made that much less profit and failed to match or exceed what earlier versions already managed – essentially confirming that despite its merits, this fell short of expectation!

2. Tomb Raider (2018): Alicia Vikander’s Reboot

The Alicia Vikander reboot’s different: It stays truer to the games – no more overly-sexualized Lara. This version gets many critical plaudits: It’s more nuanced, the Lara Croft portrayal is sensitive, yet incredibly powerful! However, some complaints linger; many felt this reboot couldn’t quite fulfill the potential it initially set for itself and as the plot emphasizes more of this aspect: that this could’ve easily turned into a multi-film arc– its mixed reviews hampered the development and production of this series itself and while successful – underperformed despite an initial $274 million gross making for yet another surprisingly financially unsuccessful and unfulfilled adventure and its lack of further continuation suggests much further shortcomings beyond what was displayed, despite otherwise performing well against expectations.

1. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (2022): The Animated Series Triumph

And finally we have the champion of them all! Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft might be short – an eight-episode season – it does far more with a more ambitious emotional storytelling arc which made those individual struggles so easily recognizable to others! It masterfully balances Lara’s past and present; allowing viewers deep insight into those character motivations in surprisingly unique ways. It shows an intense amount of clever creativity, providing amazing emotional depth and great visuals; perfectly building on those already familiar elements; those expectations and familiarity with earlier adaptations!

It didn't need groundbreaking storytelling to actually triumph. Many storylines are used previously in the games themselves and also various earlier productions! Instead, focusing on expanding her backstory, bringing new dimensions of character growth to Lara’s life is what ultimately earned a massive critical and audience acclaim! That smart and bold storytelling combined with other significant and creative details; those unique aspects of crafting her internal life made this series memorable for new fans; and satisfying to longtime fans. The entire arc was created brilliantly!

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Conclusion: A Tomb Raider Legacy Continues To Expand!

The Tomb Raider franchise really demonstrates how adaptation changes, that certain ideas remain worthwhile; yet still manage to both build upon previously existing narratives while creating entirely new ones that all serve to tell a larger story in varied formats and genres. While some stumbled (looking at you, Angelina Jolie’s movies), some other adaptations thrived (Alicia Vikander), and some made it into an absolute treasure of animated adventure. The Legend of Lara Croft provides a brilliant foundation for future entries.