The Day After Tomorrow (DVD, 2004, Collectible Lenticular Packaging)

A sudden shift in the earth's climate due to the melting of the polar ice caps creates weather conditions more destructive than the world has ever seen. Dennis Quaid plays an expert in this field who tries to inform the government of this before it is too late. But its already too late and all heck breaks loose. Tornadoes in California. Floods in New York. Freezing temperatures throughout the northern states. The destruction of many of the world's cities is made believable by some of the finest special effects I have ever seen in a movie. Never once did I have to grimace at obvious CGI shots that have been the norm in many films in recent years. These effects looked natural and realistic, and that alone makes this movie worth seeing. The movie runs into trouble because once all the destruction has taken place the script goes for down the toilet because they desperately need to give the characters something to do for the next hour and a half. Dennis Quaid's son and a small group of survivors are trapped in a library in New York City. In a brief exchange on the phone, Quaid tells his son to stay put, he'll "go up and get him". In case I haven't mentioned, Quaid is in Washington DC. SO while every other sane human is fleeing for their lives or already dead, Quaid and his 2 buddies set out for New York City. This subplot is totally ridiculous and pointless, as Quaid could have used his knowledge of these weather events to help the living, instead of going on what is surely a suicide run. There is no reason for his character to head to New York, and the chance of his making it all the way there is about zero. In fact, the roads become impassable in Philedephia, so he and his buddies hit to the roads ON FOOT! Ridiculous. There's also another laughable episode involving some wolves that had escaped early in the film from an animal shelter. I was rolling my eyes as the wolves happened to show up to threaten the lives of Quaid's and his friends. If the script had been a little better, this would have been a really good film. I think they could have come up with something better than this. That said, the special effects and action more than makes up for the shortcomings of the screenplay. So go ahead and see it.

This is one of those big budget disaster movies that comes off very well. Weather expert Dennis Quaid and doctor Sela Ward are the parents of student Jake Gyllenhaal who gets stranded in NYC when there is a dramatic climate change that few predicted and nobody else believed. Of course it is up to Dennis to resuce Jake and his student friends from the subzero disaster. All give solid performances and Jake is particularly good as the student everyone counts out to help them survive until they are rescued. Some of the specials effects don't work real well for me but mostly they are awesome.
The movie was a good ebay find and, like other ebay movie purchases, arrived quickly and in good condition. It was worth the hunt.

I bought this movie for my boyfriend. When we first saw it in the theater, the car ride home was spent discussing the movie; its themes, flaws, and the possibility of it actually occuring. We weren't too impressed. But as time went on, my boyfriend kept thinking about it and eventually began to really like the movie, and even started to reference it. Ever since I bought the DVD, he's watched it numerous times, so I asked him to write a review for me.

In a nutshell, here’s the gist:

"L.A. is devastated by a series of tornados. Hail the size of golf balls spill all over Tokyo. The United Kingdom is flash-frozen. The largest typhoon ever recorded hits Australia. And a storm surge over 255 meters high (about shoulder-length of the Statue of Liberty) drowns Manhattan.

The Northern Hemisphere, from Canada to Russia, is quickly abolished by, of all things, the second coming of an Ice Age.

Mother Nature teaches us a tough lesson, and the world – for the most part – comes to a sudden halt.

But, surprisingly, the music swells at the end of the film, its restorative power giving the audience new hope.

Yes, billions of people may have died, but at least the major characters survived, and seemingly, that’s all that matters in Hollywood (that’s right, Hollywood was wrecked, too, in the film).

That’s the downfall of “The Day After Tomorrow,” a film that unrealistically discusses the extreme effects of global warming and glacial melting.

Yes, it is scientifically proven that global warming can, and possibly will, activate an Ice Age, but not nearly as fast as this film portrays.

However, the special effects are engrossing, and if nothing else, entertains the audience to the degree that realism is temporarily forgotten. I wanted and enjoyed this movie for the same reason every other viewer likes or watches it – its human nature to destroy beautiful things.

And I am no exception."

There were several reasons that I purchased The Day After Tomorrow. One was that the person who sold it had a definate low shipping rate. Many people inflate their shipping, hoping to make a profit on shipping and at the same time not have to pay eBay for the honest listing fees. So when I see a low shipping price (which media mail should be) I am happier by far. Media mail up to a whole pound is only $1.59 so with packaging and everything, shipping should only be about $2.00 total.

Another reason I purchased The Day After Tomorrow is that it is based on a book written by a late night radio host Art Bell. Art Bell is the Host of Coast to Coast AM radio show heard nightly on over 500 AM stations through out the world and listened to by millions on the internet. He and Whitley Strieber have discovered that the weather as of late has been changing at an ever intensifying rate, and that is what their book The Coming
Global Superstorm and also what the video The Day After Tomorrow is about.

I really enjoyed watching the movie. There is intense interaction between a scientist who is convinced that sometime in the next 50 years, our weather will suddenly go ice age, and other scientists who pooh pooh his ideas. Trouble is, he is more than correct in his analysis. Our weather, and weather all over the globe, is going to go ice age in not 50 years, but in a couple of months.

As things progress in the movie, suddenly this scientist with his maverick weather modeling programs is thrust unexpectedly into national prominence because he is the only one that seems to have a clue as to what is happening.

Meanwhile his son, who is also a misunderstood genius, is stuck in New York which is the place where the huge land based super storm has centered itself. He tells his son "Stay there, I will come and get you." And a good part of the movie is about all the complications of trying to carry out that promise when blizzards are howling, the temperatures are dropping suddenly 100 or more degrees into -100 degrees Farenheit range.

We are treated to rescue helicopters suddenly dropping out of the sky because the fuel in their lines freezes sold due to the dramatic and sudden drop. Finally the president of the United States realizes that there is a serious problem developing, but by the time he finally figures this out (due to the other scientists trying to reassure him things will get better soon) it is too late to really do anything about the northern half of the United States. It is already a frozen waste land. And the southern half is relocating into Mexico.

Well, during a lull in the storm, a policeman decides to lead everyone in the library to a better location. Our hero's son tells them that if they go outside everyone of them will dye from freezing. Of course very few listen to a teenage boy, and consequently they freeze en mass several hours later.

What I liked about the movie was the compelling graphics. I liked the way that they portrayed snow and ice everywhere.

Oh, and lest I leave you hanging, our hero does finally rescue his son, and his son's girlfriend who has almost died due to blood poisoning from a cut she refused to tell anybody about until she was so sick and dying she almost didn't make it.

I especially liked the way that nobody believes the only guy who has a clue as to what is going on. This is so like real life. Any way, this is a great movie, and although it is fiction, life often mimics fiction.

After years of unabated global warming, the greenhouse effect is wreaking havoc all over the globe in the form of catastrophic hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves, floods and, most ominously, the beginning of the next Ice Age. Paleoclimatologist Jack Hall tries to save the world while also shepherding to safety his son Sam, who was in New York when the city was overwhelmed by the beginnings of the new big freeze.