Movie Review: Ice Princess

Cast:
Joan Cusack as Joan Carlyle
Kim Cattrall as Tina Harwood
Michelle Trachtenberg as Casey Carlyle
Hayden Panettiere as Gen Harwood
Trevor Blumas as Teddy Harwood
Connie Ray as Nikki’s Mom
Kirsten Olson as Nikki
Juliana Cannarozzo as Zoe Bloch
Jocelyn Lai as Tiffany
Michelle Kwan as Herself
Brian Boitano as Himself
Steve Ross as Mr. Bast
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Tiffany’s Dad
Roy Bradshaw as Tiffany’s Coach
Mark Hird as Nikki’s Coach

Director: Tim Fywell
Rating: 3/5

From geek to athlete - Michelle Trachtenberg plays science nerd Casey Carlyle who decides to do a physics project on ice skating and discovers that she has a natural talent for the sport. Joan Cusak is her feminist mother Joan, and Kim Cattrall is the ex-prom queen and Olympic skater who ends up guiding her into the skating world.

The film does follow the classic Disney princess formula - poor young maiden with a heart of gold rebels against her strict mother by running away into the woods. There she meets the wicked witch and Prince Charming.

In this case, nearly friendless physics whiz Casey Carlyle ventures into the skating rink for a scholarship project. There she meets the wicked stepmother, ice queen Tina Harwood (Kim Cattrall). Since Casey loves to skate but has no money, she soon finds herself doing Cinderella-type chores like running the rink’s concession stand while squeezing in cross training with weights and ballet. This leaves little time for studies and puts her in conflict with her vegetarian professor mother (Joan Cusak), who dreams of sending her daughter to Harvard.

That sets up the inevitable question - will Casey choose Harvard and her mother or skating and her surrogate mother - or can she do both?

To its credit, Ice Princess does have many heart warming moments, mainly due to the comedic and dramatic talent of rising star Michelle Trachtenberg. And the big pop score by Radio Disney types like Jesse McCartney and Diana DeGarmo keep things bright.