elodie-r Good points:1. Hero is a scientist not an actressI think this movie was very good at portraying a female character who is normal, and good at physics, I was nicely surprised by it. She was simple and not arrogant like the usual science geek cliché. This kind of character is really rare and the actress played her well without too many idiotic clichés about science geeks (except for the science blabbing which real science people don't talk in real life). It is refreshing that the girl does not dream of becoming an actress but her thing is physics.2. Girls are supportive of each otherThe fact that the girls support each other and are not mean for no reason is also very new and positive.3. Science project is pretty coolAs a woman in technology myself, I found that the idea of applying her physics knowledge to her skating passion was awesome and cool. Actually this is what make scientists great, they apply science to whatever interests them and that's how they innovate and invent. During all the movie I liked the plot of her doing a science project on her passion and I thought this would be the message, she would get her scholarship because she made some findings (silly me!). I almost rated the movie 9 if it was not for the ending and the general cliché message. Bad points:1. Glamorous is better than scienceI have nothing against ice skating, it is indeed beautiful and I understand that girls love it, I love it too. But the whole glamor vs brainy schema where the glamor wins just kills any feminine ambition there could be to become a scientist. It implies that science is no good and not something you chose and love, just something you do because you are forced to. This movie actually justifies why there are no women in STEM fields. Girls are encouraged to pursue the glamorous path even though they display talent in science which is actually a huge gift. Even though they rock at physics they become more motivated to become show girls, sad right ? Story tellers repeatedly fail at showing that you can love science and be pretty it is NOT a sin! Instead, the feminine ideal is set to be "beautiful and show girl", how do you expect girls to develop the confidence to become scientists? The movie sets an ideal that is really low. I think those story tellers don't think about that when they write their story. They just look for "what has been done until now, let's do the same because it works (well we hear nobody complaining)". They don't realize that girls who love science get no support at all from story tellers. This kind of story is very harmful for the minds of girls who could have greater ambitions. At the end of the movie I felt sorry for the hero because she had a brilliant path in front of her that she just gave away.2. Science geeks can't have any passionThe movie opposes glamor and ice skating to doing science, like you can't have a passion when you are a scientist. This is just not true. The story tellers obviously don't know any scientists or haven't done any research prior to writing the story. They just worked from the old cliché "a scientist is an old and dull person who talks in formulas". Scientists have passions. Their lives are not all about science. The science is their technique but applied to what they love, they create wonders and inventions (see the inventions of photography, planes or computers !). This girl could have invented a new kind of ice skates, or she could have become an engineer in aerodynamics, textile engineer, software engineer, researcher, she would have been inspired by her ice skating to innovate in those fields. Instead, no, she just blew off Harvard to go ice skating. It is really not realistic because ice skaters train since they are 5, and honestly when you realize you are gifted in science, this is not something that you let go like that. The message of the movie is really bad for girls, yet it's those movies that inspire them the ideals to pursue. They could have just tweaked the story to show that she still loves physics or that Harvard actually cares about her ice skating.3. Missed opportunity to inspire science girlsHow many movies have there been about actresses or ice skaters? Plenty ! In fact, whenever there is a female hero with status, she is always an actress. Ughh. This type of movie is exactly the type of movies that girls watch. It was a wonderful opportunity to show them what cool stuff you can do with science! Instead of that, it seemed that the girl was not that passionate about physics, she was just excellent at it. Shame! Excellent at science? It is a super power! Yet, the movie showed that it had no value at all. I get it, the movie was about pursuing your passion instead of someone else's dream, if your passion is ice skating, go for it. But honestly, do girls who want to be ice skaters need this movie to encourage them? Everything encourages girls to be actresses or show girls, why do movies keep repeating themselves and fail to inspire girls to do greater things in science too?

Joxerlives Gotta say, I love this movie, the only U certificate film I own on DVD. Originally watched it because I was the world's biggest Buffy fan and adored Michelle Tractenberg but it's so much more than that. A sensitive tale of growing up and defying your parent's expectations whilst still loving them (both Michelle's and Hayden Pantierre's) it grows on you every time you watch it. What wins me over to it is the maturity of the story, there is no baddie, not even Zoe Bloch or Kim Cattrall's character, everyone's motivations and actions are totally understandable and at the end you don't have an unrealistic fairytale finale but a hopeful yet pragmatic realisation of Casey's future and the sacrifices the life of a professional figure-skater will entail. Some good plotting, a story well told and some decent dialogue and acting all round. This essentially marks the end of Michelle's 'adorable moppet' Harriet the Spy/Inspector Gadget/Dawn Summers phase and after this we have her playing more adult characters like pop princess Celeste on 'Six Feet Under' and uber-bitch Georgina on 'Gossip Girl'. In honesty she's a little too old for the part, both she and a pre-Heroes Hayden are already looking more 'Playmate of the Year' than teenage figure skaters in this film. From now on both actresses deliberately choose more mature, adult roles but this is a nice send-off for their teenage characters phase. Best line, Tiffany, concerning the advantages of not being a professional figure skater; "And you can eat bread, buckets and buckets and of bread!"So if you want a well acted, not too twee Disney film told with humour, sensitivity, realism and charm this is the film for you. After an arduous and trying day at work dealing with the strife and compromises of the adult world just put this on and I guarantee you'll feel better. And my six year old niece loves just as much as I do at 38 years old. A timeless classic whose reputation will only grow with repeated Christmas showings and no mistake.

disdressed12 for me,this movie was just bland.not really boring,but not really interesting either.it just plods along to the end.i also thought most of the characters were not interesting.in fact,some of them were unlikable.there are some good actors in this movie,but they seem to sleep walk through it for the most part.once in awhile there is a bot of overacting,at least in my mind.a little levity(humour)would have made the movie better.it's just takers the subject matter too seriously,in my mind.basically,i was disappointed in this movie.i had higher expectations.not the worst movie movie ever made,just sort of middle of the road for the genre.my vote for Ice Princess is a 5/10

MeloDee Ice Princess was, in the barest of terms, a feel good family- perhaps with a more mother-daughter slant- movie.Actress Michelle Trachtenburg, perhaps better-known for her role in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Inspector Gadget", put on an excellent performance. She portrays the clumsiness, shyness, and insecurities of her character, Casey Carlyle, with incredible believability. The effort that she put into learning to skate for the movie really shows as well. Her movements were graceful and solid.Hayden Panitierre's performance was a solid one, as usual. She continues even today to display a talent beyond her years. Whilst many of the actors and actresses paying high schoolers in cinemas are actually in their early (or late) twenties, Hayden Panitierre was only around 14 years old during this movie. Yet she manages to fit in seamlessly with the more experienced Michelle and the respective actresses playing their mothers, Kim Cattrall and Joan Cusack.Panitierre's main weakness in the film is her skating. Her movements simply weren't very fluid and graceful, and when they were, they were always on the more simplistic moves. In fact, most of her skating was incredibly simplistic.The plot of the movie is quite simple. It follows the story of Casey Carlyle, a physics wiz kid who has to choose between going to Harvard or following her desire to skate. Her mother, a college English professor, holds a demeaning attitude towards skating, considering it neither a real sport nor a valid career option.On the flip side of the coin, there is Gen Harwood- the most popular girl in the school, and the daughter of former big-time skater Tina Harwood (Kim Cattrall). Her mother relentlessly pushes her towards skating, even though Gen has no real passion for it.The girls' paths crossed. Of course, the result is pretty easy to guess.The main faults of this movie are its goofs. Gen Harwood, even though she is slightly out of shape and not very passionate about skating, should after years of practice under her strict mother, have been at least a little better than Casey Carlyle. Even from the time the movie started, Hayden Panitierre was clearly a worst skater than Michelle Trachtenburg- so much worst, that it acted as a glitch in the storyline.Another goof would be the short time that it took Casey to become a truly accomplished skater. Even with "natural talent" and years beforehand of skating on her pond in the winter- as well as biking everywhere she went as an excuse for her good physical condition- it did not make sense. A friend of Gen's told her, "It took me 2 years to land my double." Guess how long it took Casey? Nonetheless, the movie seems to get away with it in a sense. The soundtrack is beautiful, and Michelle Trachtenburg was wonderful to watch.In a way though, the movie seems a little insulting to real life skaters, who truly put years of effort into their sport. Yet even when the movie is insulting those skaters through Casey's under-earned brilliance, it points out the hardships of skating through the problems that Gen and her friends face. Gen's grade's suffered, and the father of one of her friends had to work two jobs to pay for his daughter's skating expenses. All of the girls were on a strict diet.Although Tina Harwood helps the movie by her many lines talking about the difficulties and hardships of skating, and even though we know Casey did train, so little of the training was shown. Emphasis on training, to me, is a must for a truly superb sports movie.Along with Tina, another character who seemed to bring the movie a little more down to earth was Nikki, a.k.a "the Jumping Shrimp" played by Kirsten Olsen. She was the youngest, but the most brilliant of the skaters, in reality and in the movie- more than likely because Kirsten is an actual figure skater.In summary, the film has its good and bad points. As noted before, though, the movie doesn't focus a lot on the training and doesn't seem to be about keeping things real or accurate in that sense. It focuses more on Casey's relationship with her mother and her following her dream, and the fears and insecurities surrounding that. Those are the times when the film is truly brilliant, and gives it an almost magical feeling despite its flaws.If you are a fan of ice skating you will either love this or hate this movie. I cheated and decided to take the middle ground. In a way, you could call this a guilty pleasure for me. I enjoyed it and could see myself watching it again, but I feel that it failed on many levels.7/10.