Cocoon (1985) (30th Anniversary Special Edition) (Blu-ray)

COCOON is a mild-mannered science fiction movie taking place in the vicinity of an old folks home somewhere along the coast of Florida. The main characters have plenty of "star power," and these include Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Maureen Stapleton, and Jessica Tandy. Some of these names are "household words" for people familiar with the history of American cinema and television, and so there is no point in reiterating what is already common knowledge. That said, I have admired Mr. Dennehy's role in the movie, NEVER CRY WOLF, and I have admired Don Ameche's role in THE STORY OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL.THE PLOT. This is not a Twilight-Zone story with a surprise ending, and so I will go ahead and tell elements of the entire story. COCOON is more about character-development, and about making decisions along life's pathway. The story begins when some ordinary-looking visitor (actually aliens) approach a young boat-rental operator with a need to rent a boat for a month. They rent the boat, and spend their time busily plucking large moss-covered boulders from a sunken hiding place, and transporting them to an indoor swimming pool near an old folks home. Anybody who has seen INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (the black and white version, not the stupid color version) will easily guess what is inside the boulders. The viewer is exposed to humorous episodes and also not-so-humorous episodes of the old folks home residents coming to terms with their dwindling health, weakening eyesight, and threat to their mortality. As the plot unfolds itself, the old folks discover that if they swim around in the pool that contains the boulders (pods containing ancient, but living, aliens) they will feel younger again. Some of the more pleasant parts of the movie show the old folks playing a lively game of basketball, ballroom dancing at a Florida disco, and even break dancing. At any rate, the aliens eventually discover what is going on, and they soon realize that the behavior of the old folks in bathing in the pool has sapped the energy of the ancient aliens that reside within the boulders -- with the consequence that the ancient aliens lose their vitality and are on the verge of dying. The aliens then decide to replace the boulders in their original underwater hiding place, with the intention of picking them up at a later time. The story ends when the old folks, agree to be transported with the aliens in their flying saucer back to the alien planet.SPECIAL EFFECTS. COCOON does not disappoint, as far as special effects are concern. The flying saucer is seen only at the very end, but at least, we are treated to a fine flying saucer. It is a standard flying saucer, such as that seen in ROSWELL, starring Kyle MacLachlan and featuring Dwight Yokum, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, starring Micheal Rennie, and ALIEN TRESPASS, starring Eric McCormack, Jenni Baird, and Robert Patrick. One original special effect is that the aliens take the form of glowing lava in the form of a human being, and when they walk around or even sit, brightly colored smoke is emitted from their body. The aliens come dressed in human skin, and a couple of the scenes shows the aliens peeling the human skin off from their body, and dumping the "skin costume" in a little heap on the floor.CONCUPISCENCE. The boat operator is a young man, and he is portrayed as a likeable sleezebag. He is interested in the female alien, and in trying to persuade her to engage in concupiscent behavior with him, he says, "I am not trying to nail you." Eventually, the boat operator succeeds in engaging in concupiscent behavior with the alien, but on her terms. At first, he is disgusted when he spies through the keyhole of the room on the boat where the female alien stays. He watches her take off her earthling-type clothes, and then he sees her peel off her human skin. As I mentioned, the boat operator is initially disgusted, but he soon overcomes the slight problem that the alien is really made of glowing lava. And so, in one of the later scenes in the film, the young man and the alien (dressed in her usual human female skin) are in the swimming pool together, and the alien emits a glowing comet-sort-of-thing, and the comet-sort-of-thing bounces about the walls of the swimming pool room, and eventually strikes the young man, inducing a feeling of fulfillment. Anyway, ho-hum.CONCLUSION. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is similar to COCOON in that both involve aliens that reside in pods. But the plot lines of these two movies are totally different. AWAKENINGS with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro is more similar to COCOON, in that both movies involve old people who are deteriorated, and are transformed into vibrant active folks who like to dance. In AWAKENINGS, the transformation was caused by an administered drug, while in COCOON the transformation was caused by a substance in a swimming pool. I think that both movies -- COCOON and AWAKENINGS -- have comparable lessons on mortality. The old people in the cast are a fine ensemble. It is an ensemble piece. Also on the plus side, there are no explosions in this movie, and nobody gets killed, and there are no bad words. On the minus side, there are several seconds of footage of local seabirds, that is, brown pelicans and egrets. But the cinematography of these avian creatures is not very good. Anybody familiar with the habits of brown pelicans could have provided much better footage, for example, of the way groups of two dozen brown pelicans glide in a straight line just a foot or so off from the surface of the ocean.

Won’t play in US dvd player, European disc format from France

It looks like there have been a number of different versions of disks on here over the years, so will write this for what I got, the Region B, German version.If you are an average person in the US with a standard Blu-Ray player, this is not the disk for you. Either go pay a ton of money for the US Blu Ray edition, or get the DVD.The problem is that average user who remembers this movie or seen online how you cannot stream Cocoon buy this without even really checking what it is. It is region locked meaning that it will not play in a standard us Blu-ray player. While it is a German copy, it has 5.1 audio in English and Stereo in German. English is the default language.For advanced users who have a region free player, this is perfect. You get the quality of blu-ray at a good price.

Great movie that is funny and heartfelt.

Fabulous

this DVD was not right format for DVD players in USA...

I applaud the Goodwill store from which I purchased this, through Amazon. It was exactly as described in condition and played perfectly. I ensured it was the right region disc for my player and opted for a like new or very good condition (at 25 dollars plus).It was not cheap! Cocoon is very difficult to find during the pandemic for some reason - you can stream Cocoon 2 but not the original right now, and you can't buy it digitally nor as a DVD or blu ray, and if you buy it used you need to make sure it is the American version (region) so it will play on your player.There have even been articles written on how it is next to impossible to find, with 1 author even reaching out to a friend who asked Ron Howard about it - like wtf is the deal with that? So there is a conspiracy theory about it but after watching it for the 1st time, I'd say the government would have no reason to suppress this and maybe they are just waiting for a relaunch or remake.Frankly, it is well done enough to not look very outdated today in terms of special effects. That said, I don't get why it is legendary. I get Star Wars and the Matrix but not this. I'm giving it 5 stars for the Goodwill not the movie. I did appreciate the morals of the movie though.

German packaging with region 6 code.Audio: German, EnglishSubtitles: German, EnglishIt worked on both my PlayStation and Sony Blu-ray player. Not certain how it will work on yours.

Produit de qualité. Lecteur DVD multi-régions recommendé.

This film is wonderful, after so many years, it still holds up as a lovely sci-fi story. It is woven from both fiction and reality (as good sci-fi must be) and full of hopefulness and serendipity. Another great Ron Howard film. I hadn't seen it in many years, and enjoyed it all over again as much, maybe more, than the first time.

classic movie, love it, very good quality =)

I forgot how good this movie is

Really purchase