slightlymad22 A movie I consider an underrated classic of the 1980's Cocoon, just gets better with age.Plot In A Paragraph: A group of aliens led by Walter (Brian Dennehy) and Kitty (Tahnee Welch) return to earth to retrieve cocoons containing the people they'd left behind from an earlier trip. These cocoons had been resting at the bottom of the ocean. They hire a boat from a local captain Jack (Steve Guttenberg) who helps them retrieve the cocoons. Once retrieved, they stored these recovered cocoons in the swimming pool of a house they'd rented in a small Florida town. Problems arise when three elderly people, Art (Don Ameche) Ben (Wilford Brimley) and Joe (Hume Cronyn) from a nearby retirement community have been secretly using the pool, and who discover a new lease of life after using the pool with the cocoons in it.All the lead cast are brilliant and Brian Dennehy is as excellent as always. Every time I see him on screen I warm to Steve Guttenberg, and I can't help but wonder what happened to his career, and looking on here, he didn't make a movie from 1990 (A sequel to "3 Men & A Baby") till 1995. Which is forever in Hollywood.The film marked the first collaboration between director Ron Howard and composer James Horner. Horner would go on to compose the music for many films directed by Howard.

GusF It's an absolutely sublime film with a stellar cast of actors playing the elderly characters, particularly Don Ameche (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the film, only his seventh in 36 years, at the age of 77), Jessica Tandy (another elderly Oscar winner but for "Driving Miss Daisy"), her husband Hume Cronyn and Wilford Brimley (the only one still alive, sadly). The younger actors are well cast too such as Brian Dennehy, Steve Guttenberg, Tahnee Welch (who is a better actress than her more famous mother Raquel) and Barret Oliver.The film has an excellent script and explores its timeless themes very well. You certainly don't have to be the characters' age to appreciate the film or even relate to all of their experiences. Ron Howard, one of the best directors of his generation, does a sterling job with the material. Not many films then or now focus their attention almost entirely on characters (particularly ordinary ones) in their 70s but it was a gamble that paid off. These days, I don't think that Hollywood would be willing to take the risk.Only 50 when the film was made, Brimley was decades younger than most of the film's other stars but he looked older than he was. By way of comparison, he was 27 years younger than Gilford and less than 11 years older than Linda Harrison (of "Planet of the Apes" fame, who it was nice to finally hear say more than one word!) who played his daughter in the film. He may have played an elderly man but he is seven years younger than Roger Moore, who played James Bond for the last time in "A View to a Kill" which was released at much the same time! One thing that I loved particularly loved about the film was that the elderly people act like real people. Most of them are just as confused and apprehensive about life as far younger people are. Often in films and TV, elderly characters are either on life support or have no personality outside of the fact that they're old. In this film, they're all individuals and behave as such. Art Selwyn - played by the simply wonderful Don Ameche - is my favourite character. He is basically a well-meaning cad (for want of a better description), an older version of the kind of character that Ameche often played in the 1930s and 1940s.I've always thought that 1985 was the best year for kids, teen and family films and this is my favourite of all the ones that I've seen with the exception of "Back to the Future".

lasttimeisaw An E.T. fairytale for the elderly with a rejuvenating therapeutic gambit for visual and subconscious entertainment and a belated fulfillment to slam the ageism towards the senior. Setting against a Sci-Fi backdrop, the special effects might not be cutting-edge even at its time (in a post-STAR WARS era, it is an insurmountable pinnacle, the same could be deduced now are in a post-AVATAR era), but serves benevolently to entice the concentrations and unleash a wacky but improbable plot of the expedition to the mystifying eternal longevity. The extra- congenial extraterrestrial Antareans are merely a wishful thinking, as human behavior has no exception will spoil their plan to rescue their companions sooner or later, their counter- behavior is inexplicably dumbfounded to be taken seriously. The film has locked two Oscars, one for the visual effects, another is an utterly surprising Best Supporting Actor win for Don Ameche (whose pivotal showcase is a stupendous street-dance stunt in the film, apart from which there is scant room for him to testify his flair), which could be divined that it is no more than an acclaim to the film's pandering penchant for the demography as most academic members are over-50 white male, this film might help them to mitigate the fear of aging uselessly and hopelessly. Anyway the entire prestigious cast has stuck together to make the indulging fantasy more refreshing than off-putting, ironically the film itself has not aging too well, unlike the characters in the sanitarium, after a minimal 27 years span, it seems that the film backfires on Ron Howard and the team behind it, who in my opinion is an excellent Hollywood hack than a venerable filmmaker.

Dandy_Desmond Cocoon could have been very depressing and parts of it are very emotional and sad but beautifully handled. It deals with subjects that are quite difficult to sell - being old, facing the death of loved ones or coming to the end of your own time. However thankfully its also very funny contains great well rounded characters and has some great music from James Horner. Steve Guttenbergs character owns a boat and does crappy tours but is struggling to make ends meet and is down on his luck. Enter four mysterious strangers asking him to take them to a certain point in the ocean with no questions asked. He agrees and while spying on the pretty female played by Tahnee Welch (mmmmm!) he finds out they are actually Aliens retrieving Cocoons containing their friends that have lain at the bottom of the sea for thousands of years. Intercutting with this we have the story of an old peoples home and a group of friends biding their time until death takes them as it takes the people around them one by one. Three life long friends (Ameche, Brimley and Cronin)sneak into a local pool and relax but one day find the pool full of cocoons. After their swim they gain a new lease of life - they all get their libido back, their health and their sense of joy in life. I won't go into detail but what made this an enjoyable film for me was the characters. Each of the friends had their own background, their own questions and concerns as to what was happening and their new lease of life had a different effect on each of them. For example I loved how Hume Cronins character at the beginning was dying of cancer - you felt sorry for him as a sick old man, then when the pool cures him you find out as he gets his sex drive back he has an eye for the ladies and cheats on his wife and that its not the first time as he has treat her badly this way before. I also loved the relationship between Wilford Brimleys character and Barret Oliver. You felt a real grandfather - grandson bond between them. Special mention to the other friend in the group - the eternally grouchy Bernie who refuses to go in the pool or let his sick wife. After the old folks run rampant the energy from the cocoons is drained and the pool stops working its magic - then Bernies wife dies and he Carry's her to the pool begging for it to bring her back. Its pretty heart wrenching stuff for the likes of me. Thankfully though although sometimes I did have a tear in my eye there was some laughter to go along with it. The interplay between the old folks is very funny and its a joy to see them change from old codgers to teenagers overnight and I find Steve Guttenberg amusing as well. Overall I found Cocoon a very entertaining film. Emotional, sad, beautiful, funny and above all memorable. Sadly most of the cast is gone but through their work they live on.