Product Details

• Actors: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Jack Gilford
• Directors: Ron Howard
• Writers: David Saperstein, Tom Benedek
• Producers: David Brown, Lili Fini Zanuck, Richard D. Zanuck, Robert Doudell
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 7, 1997
• Run Time: 117 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301670124
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,949 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

An offbeat and charming comedy with elements of science fiction thrown in, director Ron Howard's (Ransom, Apollo 13) unlikely fantasy ponders the price of immortality and the power of everlasting love. A group of aliens travel to a Florida retirement community to rescue some long-stranded colleagues cocooned and buried beneath the sea. But as the aliens take on human form and stash their counterparts in a swimming pool, a group of elderly retirees discover the pool and after swimming in the water find themselves rejuvenated, with boundless energy and insatiable appetites. Soon the retirees are forced to choose between living out their lives on earth with their families, or leaving with the aliens and attaining immortality. More character driven than dependent on the incredible plot, the film's charm comes from its characters and the wonderful cast, including Don Ameche, who won an Academy Award for his role as one of the randy retirees. --Robert Lane

Product Description

Don Ameche (1985 Academy Award®, Best Supporting Actor), Hume Cronyn, Jack Gilford, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, Wilford Brimley and Steve Guttenberg star in this charming fantasy adventure.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every "old folk" should see this..., November 6, 2004

By 

R. Gawlitta "Coolmoan" (Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cocoon (DVD)

When I first saw this film on video, I decided to rent a video player and visit my elderly parents...and they never had such a good time.My folks are gone now, and my stubborn dad, who hated practically everything, laughed is butt off. He hated movies, in general, but his reaction to "Cocoon" was gratifyting to me. I could analyze many aspects of the film, but there's little to say, other than the fact that the actors were in touch with their material and ran with it. Ron Howard made a more important film than he may know. To me, anyway... Every old folk should see this film.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rescue of stranded aliens leads to charming comedy, December 23, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cocoon [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A group of aliens arrives in a Florida retirement community to rescue their colleagues who have been cocooned and settled beneath the sea. The aliens unzip and zip on their human costumes - the initial unveiling, witnessed by the boat captain, is beautiful and worthy of an award - and stash their rescued buddies in the compound's swimming pool. The retirees, after swimming in the pool, experience personal rejuvenation: they make love like teenage boys, eat like athletes, and Don Ameche's Olympian diving performance is memorable in itself. And then the retirees, now in on the secret, are asked to choose between attaining immortality by leaving with the aliens - or living our their lifespan on earth with their surviving loved ones.
Wonderful, heartening and heartbreaking, inspiring film, directed by Ron Howard, and soooo beautifully cast.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving, funny, and original sci-fi/fantasy/drama., December 7, 2001

By 

Erik Morton "Erik Morton" (Carmel, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cocoon [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of the few movies I've seen that has really made me cry. Director Ron Howard scores it big with this wonderful movie, and the plot is verrrrry original; three old men who live at a retirement center sneak over to a close-by deserted house every day to take a swim in the swimming pool. But a group of aliens disguised as humans come down to earth to save some of their comrades that they left there thousands of years ago, who are now sealed in large rock-like cocoons beneath the ocean, and take them home. And when they put the cocoons in the swimming pool to keep them alive and the old men go for a swim, they come out feeling like a million bucks! This would be a perfect family film if it wasn't so sexual and vulgar at times (hence the PG-13 rating). But for nine years and up, this is a sure treat. Don Ameche does a wonderful job as one of the old men, and Steve Guttenberg is downright funny as the guy who owns the boat the aliens use, and has a love affair with one of the aliens, as well. It has good lessons on friendship and love, and is a tear-jerker at times. A VERY GOOD movie!