With the help of her coach, her mom, and the boy who drives the Zamboni machine, nothing can stop Casey from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.With the help of her coach, her mom, and the boy who drives the Zamboni machine, nothing can stop Casey from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.With the help of her coach, her mom, and the boy who drives the Zamboni machine, nothing can stop Casey from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMichelle Trachtenberg had never skated before. She learned professional skating for this movie in 10 months.
- GoofsTeddy's Zamboni is too heavy for the ice on the "pond" near Casey's house. The only reason why it works on film is that it wasn't an actual frozen pond, but a specially constructed ice rink. And something else: Teddy couldn't possibly have driven the Zamboni out into the boondocks. It would have been a logistical nightmare for him to get it over to Casey's homestead, to say the least. Not a street-legal vehicle; a flat-bed truck would have been required for transport.
- Quotes
Casey Carlyle: [upon learning the truth] Are you happy about my feet?
Gen Harwood: What?
Tina Harwood: I'm sorry, Casey, but your old skates were a mess.
Gen Harwood: You bought her new skates?
Casey Carlyle: Please, like you didn't know.
Gen Harwood: Casey, I didn't!
Casey Carlyle: How can you lie to my face? You're just as bad as she is.
Teddy Harwood: [defensively] Hey, ease up, Casey.
Casey Carlyle: Oh, just defend her! Like you weren't part of it.
Teddy Harwood: How could you think that?
Casey Carlyle: Because it's true. You set me up. All of you.
[a beat]
Casey Carlyle: What kind of people are you?
- SoundtracksReach
Written by Matthew Gerrard and Kara DioGuardi
Performed by Caleigh Peters
Courtesy of Hollywood Records
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.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Công Chúa Sân Băng
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $24,402,491
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,807,471
- Mar 20, 2005
- Gross worldwide
- $27,645,491
- Runtime1 hour 38 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1