The first sci-fi action thriller of the summer has arrived. This one geared to us mortals. "Van Helsing" doesn’t count. You had to be a gothic horror aficionado to fully appreciate the connection of characters…and besides, it was a mess.

"The Day After Tomorrow" asks what if earth entered a new Ice Age. There’s a lot of talk here about global warming and weather gone awry; huge hailstorms in Tokyo, snow in New Delhi, and tornadoes in LA. Right now (May 2004), in the real world, rivers are cresting at record levels in the Midwest of the United States, due to torrential rain and high winds. This "what if…" seems a real possibility, as opposed to the alien invasion director and co-writer Roland Emmerich brought us in his spectacular "Independence Day."

Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid, "The Alamo") is a climatologist whose research leads him to warn those in power that dangerous shifts in the world’s climate will result in disaster within 7-10 days. A large portion of Earth will be covered with ice and people will instantly freeze in the streets from exposure, as the eye of this great ice storm passes over. There is also a convenient "eye in the sky," a manned space shuttle, waiting to reenter and watching the progress of the world’s weather patterns. Jack warns the president that the entire southern half of the United States must be evacuated. The ice storm is dissipating as it moves south. Mexico closes its borders to US citizens, and the irony of the sight of illegal aliens from North America crossing the river into Mexico gets a good laugh from the audience.

Jack and his ex-wife Lucy (Sela Ward of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights), a dedicated, caring doctor, are divorced but they still love each other. Their 17-year-old son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) feels neglected by his globetrotting father, and he is in NYC to participate in an academic decathlon. Emmy Rossum ("Mystic River") plays Laura, a bright and lovely girl on Sam’s team of likeable scholars. They take refuge in the city’s main public library when Manhattan is deluged with floodwaters, which eventually turn to snow and ice. The dialogue among these teens is funny and intelligent. And they don’t mind that folks notice they have brains.

A hopeful movie in the end, an astronaut in the shuttle looks down on the earth’s new atmosphere of normal and asks, "Have you ever seen the air so clear?"

Pam’s Take: Jake Gyllenhaal’s sort of off-handed delivery and engaging smile appeal to me. I like him here, though I think his performances in "The Good Girl" and "Donnie Darko" were probably more challenging…except, of course, for all that water.

George’s Take: Good CGI, particularly on the tornadoes in LA, in a time of some truly mediocre efforts. This is a great way to simply have fun at the movies.