Lara Croft: Lethal & Loaded

In a recent interview in Movieline, human actress Elizabeth Hurley revealed that contrary to industry rumors, she was never offered the lead in Tomb Raider, the live-action film incarnation of Lara Croft, the beautiful animated star of a series of popular videogames. Even Hurley's skinny-legged buxomness falls short of Lara's Barbie-esque figure, a physique discussed--the upper half of it anyway--in fair depth here. Lara is the perfect character for videogamedom's prime market, breeder males in the YA demographic. Not only is she drawn as an anatomic wonder, she wears two huge guns strapped fetchingly to her thighs, clunky boots and a long ponytail. The creators of Tomb Raider wax reminiscent about the game being a vehicle for the Lara character, and we learn that lewd takeoffs on Lara are freely available on the Internet (probably via public library computer terminals, as well!). Lara Croft: Lethal & Loaded is a lusciously realized history of (and advertisement for) a pop culture phenomenon that trades at least in part on titillation. That being said, it's also well done, informative, and--given the recently released feature film and huge videogame fan base--sure to be quite popular. Recommended. Aud: P. (M. Tribby)