PHOTO COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES Angelina Jolie stars in "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life," released this summer.

Angelina Jolie: humanitarian, new mother, movie star and object of desire for men everywhere.

She'll be back this summer, sexier than ever, revisiting the title role in the action/adventure flick "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life."

Since she made seven million dollars for the first film, the public may only see monetary factors in Jolie's decision to do a second "Tomb Raider." But Jolie said the filmmakers offered her much more than money.

"If somebody said to you, ÎDo you want to spend seven months, we're going to teach you five new skills and you'll go to five new amazing places and then have an adventure?' It's hard to resist, because they are real adventures and they're fun to do," Jolie said.

The video games on which the movies are based weren't quite as fun for Jolie, and consequently weren't used much for inspiration for the role.

"I played the game very briefly. I used to just make her die all the time because I thought she sounded funny. I have no patience for the game, so I tend to throw things, and I'm terrible," she said.

The first installment took in almost $130 million at the box office, and you can expect another blockbuster with Jan De Bont "(Speed") at the helm in the sequel.

But no matter how much money "Cradle" makes, Jolie, who broke in with 1995's "Hackers" and won an Oscar for her portrayal of sociopath Lisa Rowe in "Girl, Interrupted," will be back to more dramatic films as soon as possible.

"I couldn't just do films like ÎTomb Raider.' (There's) the side of you that's very cerebral and deeper that needs an outlet, and then the side of you that just is very physical and free and wild that needs an outlet, so they both balance each other well, in my mind anyway," she said.

Her next project, "Beyond Borders," is being billed as an epic romance spanning 12 years through Ethiopia and Cambodia. After that will come the animated film "Sharkslayer," featuring the voice of Jack Black.

But her most memorable role is quickly becoming Lara Croft. Jolie said it's hard for people in many parts of the world to recognize her as anyone but Lara.

"I've traveled to places that are really in the middle of nowhere, where they have seen the film and the games, but they don't understand or don't really have a concept of my life as a separate person, so I've often been called Lara by people. I just kind of go with it," she said.

Jolie doesn't really mind being known as a video game star, because she loves the character and sees qualities in Lara that are very much in her own makeup. Lara's cultural sensitivity is one trait in particular that Jolie admires.

"(Lara) tends to succeed because she understands other cultures and she doesn't go crashing into them. She walks in the way you walk into whichever individual country and note the local people," Jolie said.

Jolie, who volunteers as an ambassador for the United Nations and travels to countries around the world, spends much of her time away from bright lights and big cities. She even adopted her son, Maddox, from the small country of Tanzania.

Even though she is currently outside the United States, she feels strongly about the war on Iraq after seeing people and countries in distress during her travels.

"I'm frustrated when I see other situations like being in Tanzania and seeing people flooding out of the Congo still, and knowing that that has been going on for decades. Then being here in Sri Lanka, and knowing that the last two decades there has been war and many people dying," she said.

"There are many areas that do need attention, support. I guess I've been

questioning why (Iraq) now; why do I keep seeing people running out of other areas and then not being helped?"

While she can't save the world like Lara Croft, Jolie is trying to help less-privileged people through her ambassadorship while raising Maddox after her recent divorce with actor Billy Bob Thornton. The heavily-tattooed bad girl is actually so good-natured that she's donating $5 million to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia.

But she takes the most pride in affecting people with her films. While Jolie admitted that it sounded trite, she simply wants to connect with anybody she can.

"The most important thing to me is when somebody comes up to me on the street and explains to me why they identified with something and maybe how it helped them in their life. That's better than an Oscar," Jolie said. "If some 11-year old comes up to me and they're so excited because they think I'm Lara Croft, then that's really cool."