Monday, June 30, 2008

Ice Princess


iceprincess
Originally uploaded by Hot Rod Homepage
I am not ashamed to admit that I watched Ice Princess yesterday. I am not ashamed because it was on the Disney channel, and I was straightening my hair so it’s not like that was my purpose.

I do like Michelle Trachtenberg as I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and she played the only series late comer in TV history that I actually forget is not in the first few seasons of the show, and I enjoyed her in Euro Trip, so I was interested in seeing what she’d do in another harmless kids movie.

This is a very odd movie in concept. Casey (Trachtenberg) is a high school senior interested in getting into the physics program at Harvard and with some encouragement from her uber-feminist, college professor mom begins a scholarship project where she’ll break down the physics of figure skating. In a desire to make what she’s learning personal Casey begins to take classes herself only to uncover a hidden talent that she must hide from her mother who thinks that figure skating is an affront to feminism.

Perhaps the oddest thing to me in this movie is Tina Harwood, the ice rink owner, former figure skater turned coach played by Kim Cattrall. This character is Casey’s encourager until she nearly bumps her daughter out of regional’s so she sabotages her by tricking her into wearing new boots on the ice and mangles her feet causing her to take a spill mid-program. Then after Harwood’s daughter drops out of figure skating out of disgust with her mother and desire to pursue something she actually likes Casey asks Harwood to coach her.

All in all, I know this is a movie I would have loved if I were a kid still. It would have filled my head with fantasies and I would have thought about it every time I managed to go ice skating. Despite the oddness of the story, it isn’t a bad movie, it’s just not that entertaining if you’re over the age of 11 – or a boy.

Director: Tim Fywell
Writer: Hadley Davis
Casey Carlyle: Michelle Trachtenberg
Joan Carlyle: Joan Cusack
Gen Harwood: Hayden Panettiere
Tina Harwood: Kim Cattrall
Teddy Harwood: Trevor Blumas

Tina Harwood: Look, I'm sorry, but when the CIA wants to learn new dirty tricks they observe figure skaters and their moms.

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