Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.


UPDATE: I misplaced my review of Cocoon the book because there was no better place to put it, then learned that I had put it in fellow epinionater Chris_Jarmick’s book home. Now I have added on my succinct, but hopefully adequate review of the Cocoon movie to now place my review in a more suitable home. Thank you.


David Saperstein’s novel, which was made into a popular 80’s movie, is a dream come to life for New Agers, but that doesn’t mean it’s all bad. Cocoon started out very awkwardly for me, the unsophisticated, rather mechanical writing reminding me why I don’t like genre fiction usually. I was so distracted by all the reasons I found to hate the book that I know I wouldn’t have kept reading if my review of it wasn’t expected today for ed_grover’s Older American write-off…and I may not make it on time. However, I’m glad I finished the novel and I’ll tell you why.

The message is one worth my attention and yours, for older Americans take centerstage here and are hailed as the heroes they deserve to be. The sentence structure and lack of description in the first fifty pages seemed to grow into a kind of unearthly beauty like the old people did, but for a long while I was confused by all the faceless strangers. Fortunately, the story hooked me.

As the book opens, a young man with a South Floridian charter-boat business by the name of Jack Fischer no less is taking out some people who say they are treasure hunters. Soon after realizing there’s something bizarre about them, they are forced to tell him they are from a planet far, far away and 5,000 years ago they stored an army of soldiers in cocoons underwater. Now after finally reaching agreement with another planet of crystallized rock beings, they need their soldiers back in order to send them there for educational purposes.

There’s a problem with their plan of restoring these cocooned aliens, though. The equipment the aliens use on them at their reprogramming base is not enough to give them back their lives. I must pause here and mention that only yesterday on my soap General Hospital, a character dead for twenty years was brought back to life through DNA alteration or something, but here these vastly intelligent creatures who telepath, cause hallucinations in others, have no ears, nose or mouth, but only glowing slits across their heads for eyes and are fed and rested with laser lights from or resembling their home environment, can not correct the water damage their soldiers suffered! I found this quite amusing.

Here’s where the other characters in the book become important. Four couples in their declining years have been introduced to us one by one between the problems of the aliens and they have met at a new retirement home in South Florida where the aliens’ reprogramming base is located behind locked door. Bored and looking for some answers to why the building with the locked door is not getting finished, four men discover what they think at first is a phenomenal health club. Immediately on using the equipment meant for the watery humanoids, they know the joys of youthful vigor and telepathy.

When the oldsters are caught by the aliens a couple of weeks later, life has forever changed for them and their wives. It is amazing how the older humans took to the programming like their soldiers were supposed to and now it looks like they’re the only hope for the aliens to fulfill their promise to the other planet. The aliens (Antareans) would have to call on what is later named “The Geriatric Brigade!” Will they find 941 old people to agree to become supermen and superwomen, travel through space for billions of miles and live for eternity with another life form?

Here is the leader of the oldsters in pure, unadulterated New Ager’s bliss:

It is not important what that primitive part of me thinks or fears for itself. We have, inside of us, human and Antarean alike, a life force larger than our existence. We are a part of each other, of the Universe…We are great together. We are wonderful. To leave the Earth is not to leave the Universe, for we are irrevocably a part of the total wonderful occurrence. We are life. We carry the seeds of tomorrow onward to the stars. We are life. We are together, all life, together we are God. Pp220

In other words, they do it. They only have a few weeks before the aliens are incapacitated by our toxic environment and the police and a whole slew of snoopy characters are trying to figure out what they’re doing. Mother Nature even helps them out, but is it enough? All I’m saying is that it kept me entertained so much because of the likable seniors with their newfound purpose in life and that is the reason I recommend the novel. Yes, the quote above may be, I don’t know, obsessive and dreamy, but it shows how much they all needed this miracle to happen. Earth had retired them, made them feel worthless. Now they had a chance to start over and they would take it. Wouldn’t you?

I’ll close with these solemn thoughts of the author to savor:

Is it curious that they came so readily? If you have grown old in this world, you understand a great deal about potential…human potential. You know the value of life and the wonderful gift it carries. You have patience, even as you are discarded from the more “beautiful” people. We are a race, which finds aging too painful a reminder of what we will become.

If one voice could speak for all of them, it would say, simply: “We have done this to help our fellow beings, because they asked us, and because they needed us.” Pp 244


Cocoon (mid 80s movie)

This was a lot less complicated than the book. There were the same number of main characters, but only about thirty were taken off the planet in the end. We don’t get the flashbacks into their history (or sappy New Age dialogue)and there is only a swimming pool in the mansion next door to the senior citizen’s community, which is where the aliens store the cocoons. When the three old men (the fourth man refuses to get involved and loses his wife) sneak in for a swim, they are immediately revitalized, but without telepathy or miraculous feats like in the book. Later their secret gets out and the whole community flocks over to the pool. The aliens come back early to discover the heartbreaking truth: the drainage of energy from the pool has stolen the lives of the cocooned aliens.

I wasn’t exactly happy with that change. Instead of the aliens losing their soldiers from inadequate equipment on their part, humans give them their knowledge of loss. That might have worked better if the aliens had been unable to forgive them and so flew away not wanting more to do with us, but instead they were compassionate and wanted the killers to fly off with them forever! It’s never explained that only old people could receive their energy; rather it’s as if the killers stole it from the aliens.

Steve Guttenberg plays a respectable Jack with Potter as his unlikely last name and Brian Dennehy, I believe, the alien in charge. Hume Cronin, Jessica Tandy, Don Ameche and the rest of the oldsters were easy enough to like, too. I especially was touched by the adoring young grandson one of the couples loved and said good-bye to..twice.

It's really not too bad of a movie and probably Ron Howard's best directed movie. You'll enjoy it.

This review is a part of an Aging Write-Off hosted by ed_grover. Originally planned to celebrate Older Americans Month during May, it was opened up to everyone, anywhere, because of America’s reputation as a melting pot. We are celebrating the member diversity found on the Epinions.com site.

Please join the following participants from Canada, the UK and the USA who are celebrating Aging with everything from humor to more serious subjects. Read on!

AdaDavis, Angelabar, argonut, Aruzenchin, BeeCharmer, bleuchance, Bluehawq, Dave_Corbit, ed_grover, egab01, eplovejoy, fjbpab, frazzledspice, hadassahchana, jankp, jo.com, julliette, KateTPZ, kurt_messick, Lisa_J, LordBalfor, Macondo, MrsNormanMain, Nfp, Nobody_knows, Prepoia, REDDAVENYC, pambo, phineaskc, prettyinpink, psychovant, scmrak, Stephen_Murray, Straight-up, tekki, wanbi_gleska, Wovengold.

Angelabar has designed a special Web page for this write-off that will make accessing the participants much easier. It is located at: http://www.pronetisp.net/~anjuliz/older_american.html



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8