Cocoon

Cocoon (1985)

Runtime: 117 minutes

Directed by: Ron Howard

Starring: Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Wilford Brimley, Steve Guttenberg, Brian Dennehy

From: 20^th Century Fox

A movie that is impossible to stream-at least legally-so thank goodness for the FXM Channel. As others have noted on Letterboxd and other sites, for at least the past several years it is quite difficult to track down this movie for viewing if you don't have a physical copy of it already. Allegedly, this scenario is related to music in the film... I presume it has nothing to do with the pleasant James Horner score and it's either the wacky Michael Sembello song or one of the 1940's tunes that are heard. It's weird as those hangups are typically for films from decades past which have plenty of songs that were Top 40 hits at the time. Regardless, it is an absurd scenario that a Ron Howard box office success & something which was the recipient of two Academy Awards is now so hard to track down. When I am the same age as the main characters in Cocoon let's hope there's not a nightmarish scenario where the popular films of now can't easily be viewed for whatever nonsense reasons.

Truth be told, this was never watched by me as a kid; as someone turning 41 in about a month, the movie has more of an impact on me now than if had been experienced in the 80's or 90's. Now, I have no grandparents left, my mom passed away, dad is 75, & the aunts/uncles are all in their 80's. I tried not to be melancholy while watching this in full for the first time-I saw parts of the film not that long ago during an earlier FXM showing & it made me want to see it all. Yet, some scenes were a real downer, although as it's a real life feeling everyone goes through so I can't be upset at it being manipulative. For certain, it does show that Hollywood just isn't as bold as it once was. After all, this is a story of aliens disguised as humans returning to Earth to collect rock-like pods of their kind that were left behind when Atlantis sank... and they used a swimming pool as a “life force” to hatch those cocoons, and when used by elderly human beings it makes them feel decades younger. Cocoon is pretty weird when the plot is plainly laid out for you.

Perhaps it is me dealing with family members at an elderly age but I was charmed by this movie; definitely, it was nice to see a movie centered around senior citizens—or in the case of Wilford Brimley, someone actually 49 who was playing a senior citizen-and the struggles they face in the last stages of their life. There are thankfully plenty of laughs-the biggest from me was the revelation that one of the properties of that charged swimming pool is that for a human being, there's an arousal effect better than Viagra! Along with the comedy are serious dramatic moments involving such topics as loss/grief, problems in communication between parents & children, and the idea of if you should try to cheat nature or not. It does have a quality cast of old hands; I dug Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Brimley, Brian Dennehy, Jessica Tandy, and Gwen Verdon the most.

Enjoying practically all of the elderly characters does help to make up for the subplot revolving around Steve Guttenberg not being as strong. Overall, part of my enjoyment of this might just be how 80's-riffic this is... including a scene involving breakdancing. It totally feels like a 1980's movie and that is a good thing for me; such motion pictures were the hallmark of my childhood. As for the sequel Cocoon: The Return... I understand that was a total cash-grab which was rather inferior & only had part of the original movie's simple yet sweet story, there's no rush on my part to check it out.