Fans of Michelle Trachtenberg are still mourning the actor's unexpected death. At 39, she had not only so much greatness already behind her, but likely also even more in her future. While many are paying tribute through the roles she is most widely known for -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl being her two biggest credits -- millennials are also pointing out that her starring role in Ice Princess deserves just as much praise, even 20 years after its release.
Yes, I just rewatched the movie myself, and yes, I sobbed uncontrollably at the end like I'm sure many of us have in the past several days. There is almost nothing I would change about one of the best Disney movies made in the mid-2000s (don't fight me). I say "almost" because I like to believe that if this movie were made today, two completely different characters would have ended up together instead of Casey and Teddy.
The Gen/Casey relationship has always been the enemies-to-lovers trope from start to finish. They start the movie out as complete opposites with seemingly nothing in common and, by the end of the story, could be considered close friends. But especially in 2005, Disney couldn't release a kid-friendly movie about figure skating featuring the two lead actresses as love interests. That wouldn't have been completely unheard of 20 years ago, but unfortunately, it would have been far too taboo for Disney. It still is -- queer characters exist, but mostly in the background, at least in major releases like Beauty and the Beast (ugh).
But these two absolutely should have ended up together at the end, and I'm choosing to believe that maybe 20 years later they would have. You cannot deny that the chemistry between Casey (Trachtenberg) and Gen (Hayden Panettiere) isn't completely on point. The "the computer doesn't make the jumps, you do" moment alone sells it. And you can't tell me that Casey's reaction to "do you want to hang out tonight" isn't coded as her being flustered thinking Gen was asking her out on a date. In a way, she sort of was.
We're all mourning for what we'll never have in different ways. I hope that someone somewhere will write a screenplay based on this one, except two skating champions do end up together and they're both girls and it's just as good as the original (okay, maybe "almost" as good will do).