Film Review

By Frederic and Mary ann Brussat

Cocoon: The Return
Directed by Daniel Petrie
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 11/88 DVD/VHS Feature Film
PG

According to life cycle specialist Eda LeShan, old age is about courage; it is about making the choice to live out one's remaining years with style. In Coccon: The Return, the older Americans who left earth for another world come back for a visit while their alien friends, the Antareans, retrieve the cocoons left behind in the ocean off Florida. Now these seniors must make important choices about which world they will call home.

Wilford Brimley and Maureen Stapleton are reunited with their grandson (Barret Oliver) who needs their support and love. Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy both square off against death, and she finds momentary fulfillment as a voluntee at a child care center. Don Ameche and Gwen Verdon learn that they are going to become parents. And widower Jack Gilford, the only one in their number who chose not to join them aboard the spaceship in Cocoon, is lured into a bit of bliss in a romance with Elaine Stritch.

The ensemble perfomances of this cast are captivating, even though Daniel Petrie's direction is pedestrian, and the screenplay is excessively melodramatic. Hollywood has slighted older Americans since the triumphant On Golden Pond. Even with its flaws, this film is worth experiencing as a journey into another world — the world of older Americans who can still teach us a thing or two about what it means to live with style!

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat