Movie Review: Ice Princess

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good twists on the standard sports movie formula

Cons: Still formulaic, abrupt changes in character relationships

The Bottom Line: 

Slight twists on sports tales

Make this one entertaining

Especially for girls

A Few Twists on the Sports Formula Make This Movie Fun

No, Ice Princess was never a movie on my must see immediately list, but I always had it in the back of my mind as a movie I was interested in seeing.  After all, I am a fan of star Michelle Trachtenberg.  And, as much as I’m not a sports fan, I am a sucker for the underdog sports story.  A lazy day and the movie on TV gave me a chance to watch it, and I enjoyed it.

Casey (Michelle Trachtenberg) is a high school junior.  She’s super smart thanks to her mom Joan (Joan Cusack) pushing her.  But she’s also obsessed with figure skating.  When she’s given an assignment to create a physics project that could lead to a scholarship, she decides to do it on the physics involved in figure skating.

The more time she spends at the rink, the more Casey loves figure skating.  She even takes a job at the concession stand so she can start taking some classes herself and uses herself in her project.  And the more she does it, the more she finds she has a real talent for it.  Can she develop her skills enough to actually compete?

In some ways, this movie follows the typical sports movie formula, and the ending is fairly easy to see coming a ways away.  And yet in other ways, it is very different.  Part of that is because figure skating is an individual sport, and that is reflected in much of the story.  Casey is often on her own figuring out how she will pay for her lessons or convince her mom that this is a good thing.  Also, a character I had pegged as a Casey’s main rival turned out to more friend then foe, although they had their moments.  Both of these were refreshing changes that I wasn't expecting.

Of course, I felt some of those relationships changed too much too quickly.  I understand the dramatic things they were trying to do, but it sometimes the transitions in her relationships felt too abrupt.  Still, I found that I was happy at the end by how things were wrapped up.

The actresses involved were coached on figure skating, and they did an amazing job with that aspect of things.  Okay, so I’m sure that film editing helped, but I did believe what I saw on the screen.

I’ve got no complaints in the acting department, either.  In fact, I was a bit surprised at some of the names involved, including Kim Cattrall and a pre-Heroes Hayden Panettiere.  They all did their best and made us believe their characters.

You could also describe Ice Princess as a sports movie for girls and be accurate.  They’ll certainly enjoy it the most.  It’s an entertaining film that manages to rise above the normal to be entertaining.