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STARS...
Don Ameche, Wilford
Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Steve
Guttenberg, Jack Gilford, Maureen
Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Tahnee Welch,
and Brian Dennehy.
PLOT SUMMARY...
Friendly aliens come to Florida to retrieve fellow aliens left behind
thousands of years ago.
QUICK SCAN...
This film could be compared to "Close Encounters". Among
the veteran actors, Jessica Tandy, Wilford Brimley, and Don Ameche are
particularly good. Steve Guttenberg and Tahnee Welch bring youth and
charm to a sub-plot involving human/alien romance. The ILM Special Effects
are dazzling.
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DIRECTOR: Ron Howard
YEAR & RATING: 1985 (PG/13)
BEST BETS:
The Abyss
ET
Starman
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SYNOPSIS...
Aliens come to Earth. They rescue fellow aliens, in cocoons, off the ocean
bottom. Oldsters swim in a pool which contains the cocoons, becoming rejuvenated.
Meanwhile, the aliens prepare to bring the cocoons home with them. When
other oldsters find out about the rejuvenating pool, some of the cocoons
are damaged, killing their alien occupants. The oldsters are banished
from the pool.
The aliens return the remaining healthy pods to the ocean. The aliens
decide to let some of the oldsters travel back to their home planet with
them, where they will become virtually immortal. Pursued by the coast
guard, the aliens and oldsters escape in a large, beautiful spaceship. |
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Review:
Director Ron Howard's, COCOON, is a great, life affirming Sci-Fi fable.
When aliens, (who look like people), come to earth, they hire struggling
charter boat guy, Steve Guttenberg ("Short Circuit"), to retrieve
barnacle encrusted "cocoons" from the ocean floor. When the
cocoons are put into the pool of a mansion the aliens rent, oldsters
who break into the indoor pool room for a dip become rejuvenated.
The film features a truck load of fine, veteran actors, including Jessica
Tandy ("Fried Green Tomatoes"), Jack Gilford ("Save the
Tiger"), Hume Cronyn ("Batteries Not Included"), Maureen
Stapleton ("Heartburn"), Gwen Verdon ("Damn Yankees"),
Wilford Brimley ("Hard Target"), and Don Ameche ("Trading
Places"), among others. Brimley and Ameche score strongest. A scene
of the revitalized Ameche break-dancing is a hoot.
As the "youngsters," Steve Guttenberg and Tahnee Welch ("Lethal
Obsession"), do fine. It's just hard holding your own against such
seasoned talent.
The Special Effects of the aliens without their skins,who are golden,
glowing creatures who can float/fly, are great. ILM, Visual Effects
Production Supervisor, Mitch Suskin, and Special Alien Creatures and
Effect guy, Greg Cannom ,are the responsible parties. The alien spaceship,
viewed at film's end, also by ILM, is truly a wonder to behold.
The Music, by James Horner, is beautiful and stirring, like a wonderful
yet somewhat sad memory of something long forgotten, and only now recalled.
My favorite scene, wonderfully Photographed by Director of Photography,
Don Peterman, takes place when Wilford Brimley tells his young grandson,
Barret Oliver ("D.A.R.Y.L."), that he'll be leaving him soon.
As they stand knee deep in shimmering water, with Brimley fishing, he
explains, "When we get where we're going, we'll never be sick,
we won't get any older, and we won't ever die." It's a magical
film moment, thanks to fine acting and inspired dialogue, (Screenplay
by Tom Benedek; Story by David Sapenstein).
COCOON will be highly watchable for Sci-Fi fans of all ages.
MovieMonday.com
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