Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft

Everybody loves the original Lara Croft. I don't get why hollywood writers always feel the need to steal respected IP then strip away all the edginess that made the character lovable and unique. They replaced Lara with the generic "strong female lead" personality we've seen in literally every other movie/show that's been released in the past 5 years. Oh, and this show's story/plot - you've also seen/heard the same slop a million times. Who keeps hiring these mid writers? Obviously, no one smart goes into writing anymore and there is a big lack of talent in the industry but still, it's wild how often this same generic slop is released and how rarely a good show is actually released like Dan Da Dan or Blue Eyed Samurai.

Instead of actually using the interesting strong female lead that they paid to licensed. The turned her into the most stereotypical and uninteresting character I've seen in a while. Writers you literally had this show tee'd up for you had you used Lara's original character but you still managed to strike out somehow.

I was really hoping that the action scenes would be somewhat grounded. Yes as an animated show they tend to bend the laws of physics but I thought.......anyway in the very first scene she jumps over a 60 foot chasm and uses her knife to cut through stone. No human can reach even half that. Gets bitten on the foot by an alligator without any noticeable injury then proceeds to easily move around a half dozen men fighting them without any noticeable injury. I can't stand stuff like this. Show was over for me for the most part. The acting is ok and some nice animation but I can't take a show seriously when they do Road Runner cartoon stuff. Fail.

That's probably not a surprise for anyone who's played the more recent Tomb Raider reboot games. But I was hopeful we'd see a development in her character towards the independent, bad-ass thrill seeker she used to be in her previous iterations.

Not so. Instead, she retreads the same emotional beats she does in the game. And in some ways, even worse. She feels frumpy, downtrodden and guilt ridden. The fun, confident and witty Lara, who was so impeccably brought to life by Angelina Jolie is completely gone.

She's replaced by this sad sack, weepy, girl-next-door who just needs her friends to hug and support her.

On the plus side, the 2d animation and its integration into the 3d elements is very well done. The action scenes and their direction are fun and kinetic and feel like Lara Croft. The background and environments also look really good with lots of attention to detail. You can't fault the animators on this one. It's the writers who let Lara Croft down.

Honestly if Tomb Raider wasn't in the title I would hardly ever realize this is Tomb Raider related.

There was maybe one episode where "Lara" didn't cry. There were zero episodes where she did something on her own, she always needed help from someone else.

The storyline was as generic as it can get. Serviceable, but generic.

The environments were very nice, but I generally disliked how the characters looked like. They all felt too cartoony for me and out of place with the environments.

This show also wouldn't exist if she used her guns from the beginning instead of the last 10 minutes of the last episode.

All in all, it's not terrible, but it's nothing to write home about either.

Lara croft is a legendary franchise, from the jagged edged video games to the modern movies, she has become an iconic character.

This TV show fails to capture almost any element that makes the character what it is. Lara croft in this show might as well be super human, to the point where even people who play the video games will be forced chuckle. The script is hilariously bad, with plot holes making you question everything from the very first episode and that could have easily been remedied with a little bit of attention.

To make matters worse the unrealistic dialogues land on your ears like screeching chalk on a board. This is not how normal people communicate.. I refuse to believe the voice actors are this bad, therefore I can only blame the direction that they were given by the production team.

The animation is fine, nothing ground breaking like Foghill of the five elements or the Blue Eye Samurai, but it does not drag the show backwards like all the other elements do. So the show deserves some praise for that. However it cannot save the overall product from being bad.

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara is just a poor attempt at reinventing a legendary character.