I don’t know why it’s so appealing to watch humankind get destroyed, but, like many North American moviegoers, when it comes to a cheesy disaster film in which thousands, if not millions, die, I’ll be one of the first in line. This year’s spectacle of human destruction is The Day After Tomorrow -- the story of a modern-day ice age that’s not 100 or 1000 years away but, as the title implies, sooner than your next trip to the grocery store.

Roland Emmerich, the man who gave us Stargate, Independence Day, and Godzilla, delivers The Day After Tomorrow as an over-the-top popcorn epic featuring mind-boggling special effects that will no doubt win the film some awards, and rightly so. Even if the rest of the film doesn’t measure up to them, the amazing effects alone are worth the price of admission.

Dennis Quaid plays Jack Hall, a climatologist who sees disaster coming for the Earth but whose cries to politicians for help fall on deaf ears. Jack has his own problems as well. He’s been spending so much time at work that he’s neglected his son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal). When disaster strikes -- which it does, in a big way -- Jack does his best to tell those still alive how to stay that way, and to more or less say I told you so. He then sets off on foot to find Sam, who’s in New York, which is now buried under mountains of snow. Does any of this make much sense? No, but it’s Hollywood’s tried-and-true formula for turning a global-sized disaster into a personal story. Millions die so that the important people -- the stars -- can live, thus making us feel better by the time the credits roll.

Despite its implausible story, what I liked about The Day After Tomorrow is that it doesn’t try to be much more than it is. Except for a preachy moment at the end that warns of the perils of global warming, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, no matter how ridiculous its story or how many disasters keep coming, one after the other. When tornadoes hit Los Angeles, one of the first things to go is the Hollywood sign; next is the Capitol Records building. When New York is first pulverized by a tidal wave, then buried under snow, Jack draws a line on a map dividing the north half of the US from the south. Jack lets the politicians know that the folks in the north are probably already frozen like Popsicles, but that those in the south have a chance to save themselves if they hike down to Mexico. Next we see thousands of people clamoring to get across the border, and being turned back by the Mexican border guards because they’re illegal aliens. Some US citizens then make a dash across the Rio Grande. And, of course, there are bad-guy politicians -- which every epic disaster film these days seems to need in order to poke fun at. I don’t think any of the resemblances of the film’s pols to actual present-day politicians are coincidences.

The Day After Tomorrow conveys nothing deep -- it’s more of a roller-coaster ride than an exercise in storytelling -- but it does deliver two hours of solid entertainment, including some absolutely dazzling special effects that must be seen. Compared to some of the simply awful Hollywood films released in the last few months that don’t have even that much going for them, The Day After Tomorrow is one of the few released so far this year that are worth seeing.

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