Cocoon (1985)

Too much of everything

just watch it!

Good concept, poorly executed.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I've been watching this film for as long as I can remember and only recently looked it up here. I was correct - it came out in the year I was born.It has everything you could want - mystery, aliens, a good story line and riveting actors!Jessica Tandy is like the grandmother everyone would want to steal and take home for themselves. This was the first film I saw her in (obviously) but from what I have read about her since - she certainly kept up here her fabulous acting career in this role.The twists and turns this movie takes are of course more obvious now that it's 2018 - but I was mesmerised by this film as a child. For me this is up there with the Goonies, Short Circuit and Batteries Not Included!Give it a watch!

It's the Sunny Shores Villas Retirement Community in St. Petersburg, Florida. Art Selwyn (Don Ameche), Ben Luckett (Wilford Brimley) and Joe Finley (Hume Cronyn) sneak into the mansion next door to swim in the pool. They are slowly losing against time. Jack Bonner (Steve Guttenberg) is a struggling boat owner. Walter (Brian Dennehy), Kitty (Tahnee Welch) and their group hire Bonner and his boat. Then they rent the mansion next to the retirement home. The old men sneak into the pool and discover that the new people have put in egg shaped boulders. They find themselves rejuvenated.Directed by Ron Howard, this is a real feel good movie. It doesn't hurt to have acting legends doing some 'heavy lifting'. There is a real heart in their story. Guttenberg is almost comic relief as he drools over Tahnee Welch. That's perfectly understandable. The plot is somewhat like 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. The older characters are not simplistic. They have fallibilities and nobilities. They make the movie great.

A lightly entertaining comedy-drama from Ron Howard. Interesting plot that isn't very watertight. Feels very loose and slapped-together. Whole movie, in fact, lacks the gravitas necessary to make it a classic. Starts to feel like a chase-caper toward the end.Performances are so-so. Wilfred Brimley does a solid job and Don Ameche got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and most of the performances are fine, just some seem very unconvincing. Tawnee Welch is particularly bad, and Steve Guttenberg should really stick to B-grade comedies.So, quite disappointing for such a well-known movie. However, not all bad. It keeps up a decent pace, is never dull, concept is reasonably original (if not sound) and does pose some interesting questions about life. Watchable.

I haven't seen Ron Howard's "Cocoon" (1985) for about twenty years and am so glad I purchased it recently.On the surface the film's about elderly folks at a retirement home in Florida unknowingly discovering the "fountain of youth" via a pool on an adjacent property. A peculiar group of people rent the property to store boulder-like objects they take from the bottom of the ocean. As such, the pool acquires healing powers and restore's the old folk's youthful vigor, to say the least.Steve Guttenberg stars as the likable protagonist, the boat owner/operator who helps the people get to the objects in the ocean, but he has no idea what's really going on. The stunning Tahnee Welch -- Raquel's daughter -- plays one the members of the peculiar group to whom Guttenberg takes a liking. Unlike Raquel, who's known for being a bit biyatchy, Tahnee shines with a winsome disposition. Brian Dennehy is also on hand as the leader of the odd group, and he does very well.Most great movies have a deeper subtext, and so it is with "Cocoon." The story is a commentary on aging, death, grieving and the yearning for eternal life. The people of the peculiar group are types of angels or, better yet, the redeemed in glorified bodies. What they offer is the gospel, the key to eternal life in the "new heavens and new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13). By "the redeemed in glorified bodies" I'm referring to the glorious bodies that are promised to believers at the time of their bodily resurrection (1 Cor. 15:42-44); these bodies will be imperishable, powerful and spiritual (not carnal) in nature. Believers will be able to defy gravity with these new bodies, walk through doors and teleport from one place to another, all of which can be seen in Jesus Christ after his resurrection.Needless to say, "Cocoon" has an incredible subtext. But it's not necessary to get so deep. This is just an entertaining movie with a good heart. More than that, it's inspiring.The film runs 117 minutes and was shot in the Clearwater/St. Petersburg area of Florida and the underwater scenes in the Bahamas.GRADE: A