Day After Tomorrow, The MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +4 Content: -1/2

After studying ice cores from the Arctic Circle, climatologist Adrian Hall (Dennis Quaid) discovers a disturbing warming trend in the region. At a gathering of skeptical world leaders, Hall predicts the coming of another ice age in the next 100 years. His dire forecast comes true with one difference; the earths climate changes immediately. The special effects begin as massive storms sweep across the planet, pulling down supercooled air from the stratosphere, endangering the human race. When tidal waves submerge New York City and tornadoes pulverize Los Angeles, the president of the United States turns to Hall for suggestions. Most of the country evacuates to the south, but Hall heads north to New York to rescue his 17-year-old estranged son (Jake Gyllenhaal). When temperatures drop to 150 degrees, rendering all mechanized transportation useless, Hall attempts to hike to the Big Apple in the midst of impossible circumstances.

If only human nature were as good as this movies portrayal of it. While facing certain death, the characters in this story treat each other with consideration. Several risk their lives to save another, and a doctor stays with a sick child while the hospital is evacuated. The movie contains a lot of violence, but its primarily natural violence that results from an act of God, and the camera does not linger on human suffering. Certain scenes are intense: a teen confronts wolves so that his buddies can escape, and a teenage girl endangers herself in a flood to help a police officer rescue children stuck in a taxi. There are no scenes involving sex or nudity. The most objectionable part of The Day After Tomorrow is the language, which is not excessive compared to other PG-13 movies but does include an f-word and two s-words, earning it a negative Acceptability Rating.

Preview Reviewer: Blaine Butcher
Distributor: 20th Century Fox