Ice Princess	Back to Menu
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Casey Carlyle (Michelle Trachtenberg) is a senior in high school. She wants to please her mom (Joan Cusack), who has her on a fast track to becoming a Harvard graduate with a major in physics. Casey is actually quite good at physics, but is a bit of a misfit at her local high school.

In order to be accepted at Harvard, she must develop a physics project for which she has a personal passion. She decides to analyze ice skaters, their movements, spins and axels and come up with the formulas for each of their moves. In order to be successful, she even takes up figure skating herself.

At first she runs into opposition from the other figure skaters, but soon, she is part of the team. The more she gets involved with the sport, the more she falls in love with it. To her amazement, she discovers that not everyone who is good in the sport really loves it. Some are there because their parents want them to and will do anything to cause them to succeed.

When William W. Wilson, who is the Executive Producer, read the script for the film, he was impressed. “I was really moved by the story of this young girl who grew into an incredible skater against all odds. I found it really inspiring to watch someone stick by their dream, no matter how difficult, and go for it.”

I agree with him. The film is inspirational. One theme the film does bring up is for parents not to force their dreams upon their children. Casey’s mom wants her to have nothing to do with figure skating, but rather to pursue Harvard. Another mom wants her child to pursue figure skating and leave everything else behind. As a result of this, both teenagers are unhappy.

The only concern I have with the film is Casey’s deception toward her mother in pursuing her dream. Her mom really wants her to be a Harvard graduate and Casey decides to follow her own dreams. Instead of appealing to her mom, she deceives her by letting her think she is studying, while she is in fact figure skating.

Having said that, I really enjoyed the film. Ice Princess is a good wholesome film for the entire family to watch, and has some great figure skating scenes as well. It reminded me a little of Lynn Holly Johnson’s film Ice Castles. All in all, a great film. Enjoy!

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* Graphic Copyright Disney 2005 All Rights Reserved. Story ©Alachua County Today. All Rights Reserved.

Caption Photograph: Casey (Michelle Trachtenberg). ICE PRINCESS is available to own on DVD and Video July 19, 2005.