Cocoon follows a small group of old-folks' home residents who discover the complex's new neighbors are more than just a group of people interested in the local sea life. Art Selwyn (Don Ameche), Ben Luckett (Wilford Brimley) and Joe Finley (Hume Cronyn) have had a long tradition of sneaking next door and spending some time in the pool house, but when an odd group of people led by a man named Walter (Brian Dennehy) hire local tourist driving boat captain Jack (Steve Guttenberg) to take them off the coast and bring up strange egg-shaped rocks and leave them in the aforementioned pool, the older characters start to notice that their getup and go has no longer gotten up and left. After a few days swimming next to the strange sea-formations, they are caught and confronted by Jack's customers. What no one knows (at least not at first) is that the tourists are actually a group of aliens who have returned to Earth to recover some friends who have been in stasis for thousands of years. It seems the pool has been charged with life force in order to bring the long-lost aliens back to life, and the gang's newly revitalized status, as well as one of the character's cancer remission, is due to the wacky chemicals in the pool.
The movie ends up becoming a tale of second chances (especially as the guys start heating things up with their respective ladyfriends) and second guesses (like Walter's decision to allow the older characters to return to the pool). Unfortunately, not everything can stay as happy and carefree as it does at the beginning, as the movie quickly comes to its somewhat dramatic conclusion.
Cocoon offers a great mix of classic stars like Ameche, Brimley and Cronyn who have been in the industry for forever, and newer stars like Dennehy and Guttenberg. This mix of talent directed by Howard made it one of the most memorable movies from my childhood, and the transfer to Blu-ray, as well as the upgrade to high definition video and audio, is pretty good. It's not the best I've seen lately, but it upscales pretty well.
Cocoon comes with several featurettes, but nothing new or special for this particular release. What it includes is an array of interviews and featurettes made at the time of the film's release. One special feature talks about designing the Antareans, while another follows the cast members as they learn how to scuba dive. I also liked the featurette on Howard and what led him to direct this film... of course, that particular special feature is a bit out of date now.
Cocoon's Blu-ray release is a pretty good purchase for anyone who enjoyed the film the first time around. I don't know that it will grab any new, younger audience members, but it isn't very dated. Okay, some of the hair definitely places the film firmly in the 80's, but besides that, it is pretty timeless. While Cocoon isn't the best Ron Howard movie out there, it is at least worth watching again, and who knows, maybe I'll be wrong and there will be a few new viewers out there who will like it as much as I did growing up.
