14) Cocoon (1985)

(4 's out of 5)

"They say if we go with them, we'll live forever."

Director

Ron Howard

Cast
Don Ameche - Art Selwyn
Wilford Brimley - Ben Luckett
Hume Cronyn - Joe Finley
Brian Dennehy - Walter
Jack Gilford - Bernie Lefkowitz
Steve Guttenberg - Jack Bonner
Barret Oliver - David

Maureen Stapleton - Mary Luckett
Jessica Tandy - Alma Finley

Gwen Verdon - Bess McCarthy

The 1985 alien movie "Cocoon" is, I admit, another well-known sci-fi movie I haven't seen before in its entirety...until now. 

I recall this airing on television several times, but it never really piqued my interest enough to sit through it. 

Directed by Ron Howard, "Cocoon" includes a cast of A-list actors - Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Jessica Tandy, Maureen Stapleton. It's no obscure movie. It also stars Barret Oliver from that one well-known 80s movie..."D.A.R.Y.L.!" Oh, yeah... he was in "The NeverEnding Story." 

The story begins in a retirement home where a trio of old cusses, Art Selwyn (Don Ameche), Ben Luckett (Wilford Brimley), and Joe Finley (Hume Cronyn) often sneak into the big empty house next door for a dip in the indoor pool that's somehow still maintained.

Pretty soon, a small expedition team, lead by Walter (Brian Dennehy) rent the house, much to the disappointment of these old sneaks. 

Walter and his crew rent a boat from Jack Bonner (Steve Guttenberg) to recover some large, unusual rocks from the bottom of the ocean. 

What Jack doesn't know is that Walter and his crew are actually peaceful aliens from the planet Antarea, disguised as humans. And the rocks they're retrieving are Antarean cocoons that were left on Earth. 

Evidentially, the Antareans created an outpost at Atlantis 10,000 years ago. 

After Atlantis sank into the ocean, so did 20 cocoons with Antareans still developing inside. The other aliens left them behind. 

The Antareans keep the recovered cocoons in the swimming pool where the old guys sneak in for a dip. 

While on the boat with Walter and his crew, Jack peeps in on crew member Kitty (Tahnee Welch) through a hole in the cabin wall.

However, to his shock, she sheds her human disguise revealing she's actually an alien. 

Meanwhile, Joe, Ben and Arthur trespass into the pool with the cocoons stored in the water. They ignore them and take another dip. Little do they know that a life force emanates from the cocoons which gives the elderly men an invigoration and youthful energy the likes of which they haven't felt since their younger days. And, their respective ailments also disappear. 

Later, when back for a swim, the crew return early. The guys freak out and hide inside a storage closet in the pool house. 

Through slits the door, they witness the crew members shed their human disguises, revealing their true alien forms. And one of the aliens finds the guys hiding. They run out in a panic! 

After some time passes and the shock wears off, Ben apologizes to Walter and asks permission for himself and his pals to continue using the pool. 

Walter agrees only if they don't touch the cocoons and they don't tell anyone else about swimming in the pool, and how it's changing them. 

Of course, the other tenants in the retirement home notice how different Art, Ben and Joe have been acting. 

One of the retirement home residents, Bernie Lefkowitz (Jack Gilford) also notices and is bothered by the entire thing. The guys even take Bernie along for a swim, but he refuses to get into the pool. He insists that he and his wife have no need for feeling young, but would rather age gracefully.

Like Steven Spielberg's classic "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial," this alien flick is family oriented with warmth and likeability. It has memorable characters and a relatable message. 

This is the fourth movie Ron Howard directed, after "Splash" with Tom Hanks which came out the year before. 

I think Howard is the next best thing after Steven Spielberg. Howard's movies often remind me of something Spielberg would come up with. 

Howard can capture similar emotions Spielberg often does in his movies - the drama, the warmth, the trepidation. Howard's line-up of movies covers a wide range of genres like Spielberg. And those movies can be huge blockbusters like "Apollo 13" or attention-grabbing like the recent "Hillbilly Elegy" from 2020.

"Cocoon" could easily be a Spielberg movie. But Howard is just inches from reaching the spectacular level Spielberg can.  

Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, and Don Ameche in "Cocoon."

The basis of the movie reminds me a little of Stanley Kubrick's movie. "A Clockwork Orange." Where "A Clockwork Orange" deals with man's free will to choose good or evil versus the good of society, "Cocoon" depicts aging versus our desire to stay young. Though old age isn't for the weak-hearted, there's no reason to hide from it. 

I know that's a major leap comparing "Cocoon" with "A Clockwork Orange" as they're completely different movies. I think it's the way each movie uses a character to depict both sides of their respective stories. 

In "Cocoon" the tenants of the retirement home want to be young again. However, Bernie Lefkowitz insists he and the rest of them grow old as they're meant to. 

"Cocoon" is a unique extra-terrestrial movie. I think it should be on level with "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" though each of the movies are very different. 

Concept designer Ralph McQuarrie, who also worked on a variety of science fiction movies such as "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "Battlestar Galactica," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and the original "Star Wars" movies, is the conceptual artist for "Cocoon." 

"Cocoon" runs a little heavy with its sentimentality, but the story is well balanced. It doesn't rely so much on the aliens as it does with the experiences the main characters are going through. 

It's a sci-fi version of the fountain of youth. And, thankfully, the movie doesn't take itself too seriously. It's an enjoyable, thoughtful family movie that leaves its audience with the understanding that perpetual youth is a mere fantasy, and that aging isn't necessarily something to run away from or disguise. 

It spawned a sequel, "Cocoon: The Return," in 1988 which received negative reviews. I'll get to that soon enough...reluctantly.