The Ice Princess (2005): Dir: Tim Fywell / Cast: Michelle Trachtenberg, Kim Cattrall, Joan Cusack, Hayden Panettiere, Trevor Blumas: Family film about achievement although the screenwriter certainly didn't achieve creative plotting. Michelle Trachtenberg plays a physics major who must do a project so to enter Harvard so she indulges in figure skating. Standard plot with conventional developments including the pushy mother who eventually attends the skating championships just when her daughter needs it. The strict coach will see potential after previously denying it. Director Tim Fywell creates reasonable family viewing but the film itself is so bland and flat that it is unfortunate that Trachtenberg wasn't able to find more solid material to advance her talent. She is capable of much better but here she basically follows predictable storytelling before arriving to the obvious. Kim Cattrall as her coach is also capable of much better. Here she discourages before being won over. Joan Cusack as Trachtenberg's mother is no surprise as another discouraging individual whom will be proved wrong. Hayden Panettiere plays Cattrall's daughter in what isn't just a flat role, but her concluding decision seems contrived. Trachtenberg was wonderful in Harriet the Spy but she is in need of a decent script and this isn't it. The figure skating theme reduced to shoddy writing. Score: 3 / 10

Casey Carlyle (Michelle Trachtenberg) has always been an ordinary teenager leading an ordinary life with her mother Joan (Joan Cusack). But at the same time, she is also a bookworm and a physics geek. Being selected to pursue a scholarship at Harvard, she must present a personal summer project at physics. It was after she watched a figure skating competition with her math geek friend Ann (Amy Stewart), Casey figured that ice skating would make a perfect project for her scholarship, which had been her favourite childhood hobby whenever she is doing it on the pond outside her house.Casey initially had a nasty awakening at the local skating rink, managed by former disgraced skater Tina Harwood (Kim Cattrall). She had unexpectedly gate-crashed a skating practice session, with the sole intention of simply only watching the skaters at the local rink to do her summer project. After just initially watching the skaters, she decides to try to improve her own skating abilities by applying the physics and what she discovered from watching other skaters and join the local skating rink. She becomes a proficient skater, skipping two levels to become a junior skater in the process. She also helps out the fellow skaters at the local rink in Tina's daughter Gennifer (Hayden Panettiere), Tiffany (Jocelyn Lai) and Nikki (Kirsten Olson) in their skating.Unsure of what she wants, Casey juggled between her studies, skating, taking a job at a food stand at the local skating rink to pay for the skating lessons. When it began to catch up on her, her mother Joan tells her to stop skating but she refuses. At the same time, there was also tension between Tina and her daughter Gennifer over the regime Tina is putting on her daughter's skating schedule and her personal life. And it came to a head at a skating competition where relations hit a new low between Tina and Gennifer over Tina buying a new pair of skating boots for Casey.It might have been a Disney film, but it does not steer towards the stereotypes. Kim Cattrall's Tina character may have been flawed which stretched back to her own days of being a skater, but she became the unexpected voice of conscience for Casey. But at the same time, it also examines Tina's relations with her daughter Gennifer and between Casey and her mother Joan in terms of what both Gennifer and Casey really want for their respective lives. It is something families can relate to, for those having children at crossroads in terms of their life decisions.It stands out for me in terms of when Michelle Trachtenberg's character of Casey was doing the figure skating, me at times almost imagine that she was actually a real figure skater. Not only that, there is also the stardust of former real-life American skater Michelle Kwan, who acts as a commentator in the film, which makes this film pleasantly appealing.

I try to catch the ending of this movie whenever it comes on TV or Cable. That is because it has an exhilarating ending that combines with fantastic music which gives the movie an almost a "Rocky" like feel. Hayden Panetier and Kim Catral give good realistic performances that really brought this story to life, despite the fact that it may have a little bit of a corny concept to it.That said the movie sends the message that it is better for some people to ice skate than to go to College, and I do not know if that is a real good message to send. But it also shows that someone follows their own dream to their happiness. Furthermore, the movie has one surprizing twist that let me know this was not the usual Disney fluff.It starts a little slow, but it really takes off, like no other Disney movie.

I spent much of my childhood figure skating, from the age of 5 until I was 15. I even coached the younger skaters (beginner to elementary level) from the time I was 12 years old until my last year. I have to say that, while Michelle can definitely skate fairly well, I'm pretty disgusted at some of the complete falsehoods this movie promoted.Yes, good skates are very expensive. But, for one thing, a figure skater would never ever have begun doing the jumps and spins she was showing (I mean... come on... an axle?) in the skates she was wearing at first. A single wrong landing would break her ankle.The skates a real skater has, after they've begun doing jumps and spins of ANY sort, are very thick and heavy for a reason. It helps prevent broken ankles and gives you proper picks that won't skid over the ice unlike beginner skates.Not to mention, the coach lied. She'd have been able to start competing at her level, I did. And I hadn't even landed my first axle. Competition isn't always about reaching regional level, sometimes its just for competition.You don't win "trophies" and have "recitals", you win "badges" (at the low levels) and "medals" and have "performances" during the year or "carnivals" at the end of the year.I was pretty impressed with the ability that Michelle Trachtenberg showed. I completely didn't take her for a figure skater with her performance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.The costumer sucked, and the red dress was hideous.I do have to say that they got the stage mom perfectly. They are like that.Have to admit, I find it funny that she found probably the one in fifty clubs that actually has a guy involved. They exist, they're just rare.Like I said, not bad. If you're bored and have nothing else to do.If you're looking for a good skating movie, go grab Cutting Edge. Thats much closer to real.