You can criticize "Ice Castles" all you want, but it's the only one of the movies mentioned on this thread that has a real ice-skater in a principal role - Lynn Holly Johnson, who was a national Junion Champion and a Senior competitor.So, all the skating was real - so, if you want to talk about manipulation, what about faked skating and using real skaters as "doubles" because the actors and actresses can't skate themselves? Even Michelle Trachtenberg only did the most elementary skating moves.
Lynn Holly Johnson, Colleen Dewhurst, and the other principals played their roles very well. "Ice Castles" was the only one of these mentioned films that actually had real acting. The others were just "fluff" films by comparison. Saturday afternoon popcorn movies? Well, yeah, but.............................