On our 1978 Spotlight Podcast, I gave the original ‘Ice Castles’ a BAD rating – Citing a film that really didn’t bring anything special, yet held enough to warrant repeated viewings. Aspects that draw me back to the original are the actors and the *groan* soundtrack – but more on those later. ‘Ice Castles’ is the story of a young figure skater who overcomes a personal tragedy to defy those who tell her that her skating is over. Alexis ‘Lexi’ Winston dreams of hitting the big leagues in the world of figure skating, practicing endlessly on the frozen ponds and a run down ice rink in her small Midwestern farm town. She enters a state wide competition which leads to some interest by a professional coach. As her fame and popularity surge, Alexis finds her relationship with her boyfriend (an aspiring pro hockey player) is starting to strain. As the boyfriend walks away, a distraught Alexis loses her focus… leading to an accident during a practice. Due to a bad bump to the head, Alexis loses her eyesight. As she struggles to relearn skating without her eyes, the boyfriend comes back in her life. His guidance and support help Alexis perform one incredible skating routine at a tournament. If the story isn’t sickly sweet enough for the audience, there’s also the very saccharine Marvin Hamlisch soundtrack featuring ‘The Theme from Ice Castles – Through the Eyes of Love” – which for some reason I CAN’T GET OUT OF MY HEAD. Since I rewatched “Ice Castles” a few weeks ago in preparation for this article, the plink-plink piano music from this song keeps coming back to me every hour or so. It is driving me nuts. Sometimes I even want to break out in song: “Please do let this feeling end…”. I don’t know what’s going on; last month I kept humming “Hot Lunch” from ‘Fame’ in my head.
As it’s mandatory in modern Hollywood to remake every movie, ‘Ice Castles’ was recently redone as a straight-to-video release. What’s a little unique about this remake is the fact that the original 1978 director, Donald Wrye, has returned to direct the 2010 version. Mr. Wrye has been doing much else in his 45 year career apart from directing ‘Ice Castles’ films. No other films are 
to his credit, however he has directed quite a few made-for-TV films; most notoriously was ‘Amerika’ (1988). With the director’s vision unchanged from original to remake, I was interested to compare both films. Would they be carbon copies? Or would Wrye meddle with the formula to appease modern day interests?
I mentioned earlier that the acting in the original ‘Ice Castles’ was pretty good. Tom Skerritt plays a great role as father to Alexis (played by Lynn-Holly Johnson). He really looks like he’s living the rural life and fits the part nicely. Colleen Dewhurst is always a pleasure to watch, and she’s great in the role of Beulah Smith (another local who supports Alexis and her skating). The fact that Lynn-Holly Johnson was an actual professional skater works really well – No awkward doubles casting needed for the skating routines. She also pulls off an amazing innocence in the film. She really comes across effectively as the small-town character she plays in the film. Robbie Benson plays the hockey player boyfriend. I liked how he was trying out for the Minnesota North Stars (a now defunct team).
The remake also features a pro skater in the lead role – Taylor Firth. She also plays an adequate ‘Lexi’, but she didn’t carry that innocence that I found in Lynn-Holly Johnson’s character. It almost felt as if Taylor is trying too hard to impress in her scenes. Rob Mayes plays the hockey player boyfriend – he’s trying out for some college team. Seems logical, as you wouldn’t be trying out for NHL teams nowadays (with the Draft and all). Henry Cerzny plays the father who seems a little too clean cut to be filling the boots of Tom Skerritt.
The first act of the story takes place in the town of Waverly. Once again, good use of that small-town feeling. It doesn’t feel like a hobbled together set – The town feels and looks real. The fact that the skating rink connects to the bowling alley (which connects to a tavern) is pretty funny. I counted 18 scenes where ‘Coke’ was predominantly featured – either as a drink or billboard. I guess Pepsi wasn’t a sponsor. The original lingers longer in the town, establishing characters and the down to earth feeling of the locale. It seems as thought the remake just wants to jump into the heart of competition. This is what sets both movies apart the most – Wrye seems compelled to show the grass roots upbringing in the original, yet he seems more focussed on the competitive aspect in the remake.
Moving into the competition scene, I always wondered why Alexis gets such a bad score from the judges. It turns out that Wrye cut a few scenes where she wipes out on the ice – This doesn’t make sense, as you’ll see in the film.The remake also has this confusing plot point. In both films Lexi gains acclaim for her skills on the ice. She moves on to a mentor, a woman in the original – and a man in the remake. She begins to lose touch with her boyfriend in both films. It was really interesting to see that the characters in the remake talk to each other via Skype. And this appears to be one of the very few films that showcase laptops other than Apple ( Sony Vaio in this case).
Both films seem to wait too long for the life changing moment when Lexi loses her eyesight. It’s almost as if Wrye wants to make a movie about skating – and feels the blindness part is just a denoument to the story. I would’ve enjoyed a film more about the main character overcoming her blindness… yet this all seems to be an afterthought. This is especially prevalent in the remake – Wrye appears to want to make a movie exclusively about the competitive skating world… but it seems he’s forced to throw in the blindness aspect at the last moment.
goodbaduglyfilms 
I’ve recorded and watched a number of movies this weekend and without a doubt, the 2009 version of Ice Castles was the most enjoyable. Was it the best movie I’ve ever seen? Not even close! Was it in the top 100? Absolutely!
But I guess the thing about your review that bugs me the most is your inability to appreciate the soundtrack. Before I began watching the movie today,I commented to my wife that the only thing I remembered about the original was the great soundtrack. In fact, I have used both vocal and instrumental versions of “Looking Through The Eyes of Love” in numerous slideshows I have put together over the years. It is the best piece of music I have found in my never ending search.
“It turns out that Wrye cut a few scenes where she wipes out on the ice”
That’s odd. Since they were not in there, I walked away with the assumption that he dropped the score to convince her that she needed his help, making him seem a bit shady in my view. Shame Wrye didn’t leave the scenes in to avoid that perception.
We watched both versions and enjoyed the 2010 “Ice Castles so much more. Especially the theme song The ice skating was fabulous. The story line similar but even better than the 1978 version.