Review for Cocoon

Cocoon is the classic Ron Howard movie regarding old people finding an alien 'Fountain of Youth' of sorts when they go for a swim in a pool that hold a number of cocoons. These cocoons contain a number of aliens who have been resting on Earth for thousands of years, waiting to be rescued.

Once the old people swim in the water, they absorb the energy from the cocoon and this gives them a new lease on life. For some this is just the ability to get a 'boner' again, for others it is ability to break dance and for one most importantly it cures him of cancer. However, when the word gets out about the pool it leads to too many people using it and the aliens who had come back to rescue them, who are under human disguise offering another option to their new friends that could change their lives forever.

This classic 1980s film was a staple of the video and tv movie rounds when I was young and I always remember enjoying it. The acting by everyone is fantastic and the old people's reactions to their new abilities is still as amusing as it always was. I do worry that this is still slightly a 'aw bless old people doing things is so cute' feeling, but the actors and characters they play are so likeable it is hard not to enjoy it all.

In this age of CGI-Overkill, it is nice to see a film and wonder 'How did they make this?' The effects which is a mixture of miniatures, animation and wonderful practical puppets is just perfection and rightly won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The film also has a very effective score by James Horner who would go on to do such wonderful work on the likes of Aliens, Braveheart and Titanic.

The cast is just wonderful all round with Brian Dennehy suited perfectly as the undercover alien leader who enlists the help of boat captain Steve Guttenberg (before we had gotten sick of his oversaturated charm). The older cast are great including an Oscar winning turn by Don Ameche.

My biggest issue with this film is simply its length. At about the hour point the whole point of the film is the old people deciding to leave with the aliens and whereas in most other films that could have been told in maybe a 10-15 minute sequence, we get almost another full hour of... well, not much really and this felt all like padding.

The audio commentary is only provided by Director Ron Howard and though nice and full of interesting stories it suffers from the problem a lot of solo commentaries do... Silence. At times, there are massive gaps where nothing is said and I had to keep checking I hadn't leant on the mute button or switched the commentary off by mistake. The only person who has ever gotten solo commentaries correct is Coppola on The Godfather movies and really anyone who is planning on doing one should really listen to that and then you will be able to see how it is done.

There are five featurettes, all focusing on one aspect of the film 'Behind the Scenes', 'Underwater Training', 'Actors' and 'Creating Antareans'. This is fine, though I did expect a more concise and thorough documentary about how the film was made. The problem is they are all from when the film was made and nothing new. With this set being an 'Anniversary' one I expected there to be more of a look back at how this was all created and though the commentary fills in some of the gaps I would have liked to have seen how they created some of the effects shots or hear from some of the people involved about the making of the film.

This is the same for the 'Ron Howard Profile' and considering how much work he has done since this film the fact it isn't a look at things like Apollo 13 and Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind is a shame.

The set also includes four TV Spots, the full and teaser trailer and for those who are interested the trailer for the less successful sequel Cocoon: The Return.

Cocoon is a classic 80s film. It is not part of the Brat Pack, Slasher or the Silly Comedy genre, but its own unique thing and probably something that would never have been made today. I found it a tad long, but the whole overall feeling of the film was still enjoyable and the effects still hold up and it's not very often you can hear someone say that. This is certainly a film that I would watch again. The transfer to Blu-ray in regards to sound and picture is perfect and if you are a fan of the film it might be worth picking up for the commentary alone.