Movie Review: 'Ice Princess' Remembering the Talent of Michelle Trachtenberg

Ice Princess

Directed by Tim Fywell

Written by Hadley Davis

Starring Michelle Trachtenberg, Joan Cusack, Kim Cattrall, Hayden Panettiere

Release Date March 18th, 2005

Published March 13th, 2025

If not for the far too young passing of actress Michelle Trachtenberg, the 20th anniversary of the movie Ice Princess likely would have passed unnoticed. Though this is a quite good for what it is sports movie, it's not exactly a top of mid movie for anyone outside a few nostalgic millennials with failed dreams of winning Olympic gold in Figure Skating. In 2005 and thereafter, more than a few young girls lived vicariously through Trachtenberg's overachieving academic with Harvard in her future who develops a sudden interest in figure skating through the use of math.

Casey (Trachtenberg) has been on her way to Harvard University from the womb. Her mother, Joan (Joan Cusack), isn't a maniac intent on forcing her daughter to go to Harvard, just very supportive of the idea and proud of her accomplishments. Thus, it is to Joan's dismay that Casey decides to get back into figure skating. Joan sees it as a distraction from her stated academic goals. Casey meanwhile, posits figure skating as a physics experiment, developing an algorithm that not only helps her become an incredible skater in mere weeks, it also helps the other girls building their figure skating dreams including Gen (Hayden Panettiere), an early rival and soon friend of Casey.

Through Gen, Casey meets Gen's brother, Teddy (Trevor Blumas), and begins a tentative romance. Add this to Casey's summer job, and you an understand why Joan starts freaking out over Casey having little time to focus on her studies. A boyfriend, a job, figure skating practice and competitions pile up alongside Casey's Harvard project and everything seems to suffer, save for figure skating. Indeed, Casey has gotten so good that when it appears she may qualify for an advanced tournament ahead of Gen, Gen's mother and their coach, Tina (Kim Cattrall), sabotages Casey to assure that Gen gets to move on to the big tournament.

This sounds much more dramatic than it is. This is a Disney movie after all, it's pure popcorn melodrama at the end of the day, and that's not a bad thing. This is a movie intended for young girls that understands what kind of movie it is. The film carries an incredibly simple narrative of empowerment, forgiveness, and chasing your dreams. In that respect, Ice Princess is better than it needs to be. The acting is really strong with Trachtenberg, Panettiere, Cusack, and Cattrall, all turning in great work that elevates the simplistic empowerment theme and sports cliches.

The film features a final act in which Casey is divided from her support system with mom not supporting her skating and Casey coping with being betrayed by Tina and assuming that Gen and Teddy were aware of what their mom had done. This will not remain the status quo and soon all will be well as dictated by conventional movie expectations. One thing the movie does cleverly though is not make Cattrall's Tina a scheming villain. She's merely a loyal but deeply flawed mom. Recognizing this, Casey forgiving Tina and welcoming her back to be her coach is a nice touch, a reminder that one mistake, one poor decision, doesn't have to define a person.

Again, this isn't deep, but it's more thoughtful than a lot of similar melodramas aimed at teen girls and in that way, Ice Princess has quality and value. Sports movie tropes and simplistic empowerment messages may be stock elements of a dozen different movies, but that doesn't make them bad messages. Ice Princess elevates the overly familiar with strong performances and minor tweaks to the formula. It's not reinventing the genre, but it's more entertaining and carefully considered than most movies of its kind.

But, naturally, the only reason we are talking about Ice Princess today is because of the tragic passing of Michelle Trachtenberg. On February 26th, at just 39 years old, Michelle Trachtenberg passed away unexpectedly in her home in New York City. She's remembered for bright smile, her intelligent eyes, and her ability to elevate familiar material to something slightly more than what was on the scripted page. She did that in her first teen film role, the stock road trip comedy, Eurotrip, which gets a charge from her bold funny performance, and she did the same for Ice Princess.

With her big smile and clever choices, Trachtenberg's Casey avoids many of the pitfalls of a teenager trapped in a stock plot. Trachtenberg gets you to buy in on the idea that math could make someone a great figure skater through the sheer force of her charm. Her wide, bright eyes, easy laugh, and willingness to be the butt of the joke made the character feel fresh, even as the plot was not so fresh. Veterans Cusack and Cattrall, each no stranger to playing teens in movies, dating back to the early 1980s, appear to love working opposite Trachtenberg and their chemistry is another aspect of Ice Princess that elevates the otherwise boringly conventional teen comedy.

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