Ice Angel (2000)

Let's be realistic.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

For years I've watch all the figure skating movies I'e come upon. This one has become my favorite. It goes beyond the story of a skating career and casts an amused but compassionate glance on the human condition.It is surprising with all the modern interest in unconventional sexual themes that movies where the member of one sex experiences the life of another are so uncommon. I don't mean transvestite stories like TOOTSIE, but plots wherein a person undergoes a real change. This gives a film a real chance to explore sex roles, a theme ostensibly so important to modern consciousness. There have been some such films, but these have been shallow comedies going for simpleminded yucks, like "Dr. Jeckyll and Ms Hyde" and "Switch" that really have nothing to say about the being a better humanbeing. Wouldn't it be better to address ideas of courage, compassion, and resilience in the face of difficulty? I thought Sarah's story of coming to grips with a new kind of life, of making peace with the past and moving on to the future, of friendship and striving to excel, made the story as warm as it was funny.In criticism, it was too bad that the film didn't deal more with Sarah's social adjustments and less with skate training. Time to do so could have been salvaged from, for instance, that street hockey scene that was pretty much a throwaway. I think Ms Tom was a little too mature for the way the role was written and an actress who looked the age of Tara Lipinski would have been more suitable. Nonetheless, Tom does a good job and it is a shame that she doesn't get the chance to do more movie work (It is also a shame that her NANNY role was so restricted, and she was never allowed to break out of the background, as Nikki Cox did in UNHAPPY EVER AFTER).Like "Heaven Can Wait," "Ice Angel" is clearly inspired by the classic "Here Comes Mr. Jordan." I hold it is superior to the former movie in thought and content, though shot on a small budget.I'm amused by Nancy Kerrigan fans (which I count myself one)who express the wish for more screen time for our star. The few lines she had in the movie showed her limitations in delivering a dramatic line. She is a wonderful skater, but not an actress. Tara Lipinski did much better as the second lead.

Am I a girl? I am a 31 year old male, but just recently films with a strong emotional base seem to have my British stiff upper lip trembling all over the place.Has (in a strange parody with this film) a girlie girl figure skater possessed my body with the sole intention of applying the water works to my eyelids? It appears so, because this film really had me choked up with emotion, it was great.Make no mistake, this film is a bit of a turkey, and when I say a bit I mean a Christmas dinner that can feed a small nation, but none the less there was something about it that made it impossible to switch over.Matt Clark the strapping captain of the U.S.A. Olympic ice hockey team, meets a premature demise but is returned to earth in the body of Sarah Bryan, a U.S.A. Olympic figure skater.We start out with the usual gender bender clichés as the bewildered Matt tries to adapt to the body of a young and beautiful woman, but it is when this former 6 footer starts to take figure skating seriously the film starts to come into it's own.Nicolle Tom I feel plays her part so well, even adapting her walk to be consistent with that of a male hockey player, which of course is in direct contrast to the thing of beauty she undoubtedly is.I was really surprised with myself when in the final scene, I found myself cheering at my TV with the rest of the Olympic crowd with layers of built up tears in my eyes. It was fantastic though. A real feel-good moment.When I think of how soft I seem to be getting lately.....I could blush really.The biggest problem with this film however was the ending. There was no fanfares or fade outs, not even those silly little captions explaining what happened next. There was nothing. It just stopped dead. As dead as Matt Clark himself.There was so many lose ends the audience was so desperate to see tied, like any further interaction between Matt's 'widowed' pregnant girlfriend and his best friend, who had both figured out that their former comrade and pal was locked inside Sarah's body.Maybe just one outward reference to it would have put the icing on the cake. But sadly we are left hungry.Well to recap, the film is enjoyable although it's not that good, the ending will excite you and then disappoint you in the same minute and I'm a big sissy girl, who can't keep his emotions in check.And I'm going to end this review in the same style as the film where by I am going to......

I have seen this movie several times. However, I agree that Nancy Kerrigan should have been featured more, though she had more than a bit part.Tara Lipinski seemed to be more famous, in that she was featured more. Tracy was her role. Tara delivered it quite well. I enjoyed this fantasy film because after the hockey player "died," it returned to become a woman. Does that ever happen in real life? I am not sure. Sometimes we all wish it did.Nicholle Tom played her part of Sarah, excellently. All in all, it was very entertaining and worthwhile to see.

I know for a fact that there are actresses who can act AND skate. The people in this movie can only skate. How about the little girl on "Dad, the Angel, and Me?" She could have taken Tracy's part. The acting isn't very believable. For instance, at the beginning, "Danielle's" cries were heard in a totally silent stadium. I would think that there would be a bit more commotion. Nicholle Tom's character is the only one slightly believeable. Her parents are the stereotypical worried parents. I think that this movie could have been better casted, and if it was, maybe been a bit better. Just because these people are famous skaters doesn't mean they are cut out to be in the movies.