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Very disappointing...

Sick Product of a Sick System

Overrated and overhyped

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

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

As a figure skater I find this movie incredibly insulting. No matter how much "natural talent" a person has, it is impossible for someone to become that good of a skater in such a short period of time, especially someone her age in the movie. Not only that but there are multiple tests that a skater has to pass in order to compete at that level, and it's not like you can take the tests whenever you want, you have to wait until a test session to take them. Also there's no way she could have competed without her mother knowing, because as a minor you have to have your parent's consent in order to compete (unless of course she forger her mother's signature). Sure the message of the movie is nice, the dialogue is okay, and I like the main actors, but it's just so incredibly unrealistic. I'm 17 and have been skating since I was 7, and skated competitively from the age of 18-13. I spend countless hours training, and its incredibly insulting of Disney to make that portrays figure skating as being something any person with a good understanding of physics could be good at. And as a figure skater the most insulting thing you can tell me is that figure skating is easy. And it's because of movies like this, that people think that. So sure if you want a heart-warming mediocre movie then by all means go see Ice princess, but if you want to see a movie that is far more realistic about figure skating, I think you'll have better luck with Blades of Glory.

Michelle Trachtenberg is a talented actress, but it seems the older she gets, the poorer her judgement. She really should have read the script before agreeing to this - it's certainly not Shakespeare! Surprising then, to see so many other good actors taking part. I guess it fulfils a role - simple, inoffensive, happy-ending. Great for a kids' movie, and shown on TV here at Christmas, which is probably where it belongs.On the plus side, the skating is pretty impressive. A couple of experts were bought in - very wise - and both Trachtenberg & Panettiere (can't they find actors with simple names anymore?) appear to be quite proficient themselves. If there were doubles employed, then they were very skillfully integrated.All-in-all, technically quite slick but with a script seriously lacking in depth; easy on the eye and the heart, and not a bad way to spend an afternoon with the kids.

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.