Ice Princess is the tale of a teen torn between two role models. Should Casey pursue the intellectual ambitions of her granola mom or the athletic accomplishments of a friend's glam mother?

Casey's mom (Joan Cusack), an English teacher and whole-grain feminist, urges her to Harvard. Glam mom (Kim Cattrall), a onetime Olympic contender now coaching the younger generation in the finer points of salchows and sequins, coaxes Casey to achieve in the rink. Granola mom is all about intellectual performance; glam mom is all about physical performance.

The most fascinating implication of the film is that it suggests that it's far harder to place in the Eastern regionals of figure skating than to gain admission to Harvard. Princess does not shrink from showing skaters' cutthroat competitiveness. "When the CIA wants to study dirty tricks, they look at figure skaters and their moms," a character observes. What she fails to note is the implausibility of a weekend skater mastering loops and lutzes after scarcely a year in the rink.

The movie has a pleasant ending.

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Sports
Rating: G