Cocoon: The Return

Zanuck-Brown/ 20th Century-Fox. Director Daniel Petrie; Producer Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown, Lili Fini Zanuck; Screenplay Stephen McPherson; Camera Tak Fujimoto; Editor Mark Roy Warner; Music James Horner;; Art Director Lawrence G. Paull

Don Ameche
Wilford Brimley
Hume Cronyn
Steve Guttenberg
Maureen Stapleton
Jessica Tandy

Not altogether charmless, Cocoon: The Return still is far less enjoyable a senior folks' fantasy than Cocoon. An overdose of bathos weighs down the sprightliness of the characters, resulting in a more maudlin than magic effort.

Quandary begins with the return to St Petersburg, Fla, of the plucky group lead by the twinkle-eyed Don Ameche for a four-day visit from the utopian extra-terrestrial world of Antarea. Upon being reunited with family and friends, each questions his own choice for leaving in the first place and, at the end of the picture, the rationale for either returning to space or remaining on terra firma.

Jack Gilford as irascible widower Bernie Lefkowitz and Steve Guttenberg as Jack, the glass-bottom boat tour guide cum shlocky seashell merchandise salesman, keep this overly sappy production afloat.

Ameche, Gwen Verdon and occasionally Hume Cronyn want to play funny and loose but are restrained by Daniel Petrie's direction, which too often is unfocused.

(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1988. Running time: 116 MIN.

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