Main Cast: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Jack Gilford, Steve Guttenberg, Maureen Stapleton
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 116 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Cocoon 2: The Return, like most sequels, relies a bit too heavily on one's familiarity with the first film. Without dwelling too long on Cocoon #1, we can observe that it ended with a group of senior citizens heading for the distant planet of Antarea, hoping to find a new, rewarding and elongated life. Cocoon 2 picks up the action five years later: The Antareans return to earth to check on the damage caused to their life-regenerating cocoons by earthquakes. Coming along for the ride are the elderly couples whom we met in the first film. Also carried over from the first Cocoon are young ferryboat captain Steve Guttenberg and gorgeous Antarean Tahnee Welch, who resume their interplanetary romance. Oldster Jack Gilford, whose beloved wife died in Cocoon, likewise finds romance in the form of Elaine Stritch. A secondary plot involves an insidious secret government plan to exploit the Antareans, which is foiled by sympathetic researcher Courteney Cox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Jessica Tandy - Alma Finley; Tahnee Welch - Kitty; Gwen Verdon - Bess McCarthy; Elaine Stritch - Ruby; Courteney Cox Arquette - Sara; Iris Acker - Mrs. Cashman; Brian Andrews - Visiting Catcher; Fred Buch - Alma's Doctor; Wendy J. Cooke - Phil/Antarean; Brian Dennehy; Anthony Finazzo - Little Boy #2; Robert Gwaltney - Clerk; Linda Harrison - Susan; Mal Jones - Man at Kiosk; Alan Jordan - Orderly; Barret Oliver - David; Tyrone Power, Jr. - Pillsbury; Shelley Spurlock - Rebecca; Herta Ware - Rose; Robert Short - Technician; Priscilla Ashley Behne - Little Girl #3; Harold Bergman - Dr. Erwin; Fritz Dominique - Orderly #2; David Easton - Player #1; Chris Fuxa - Kid #2; Kelly Jasen - Little Girl #1; Richard Jasen - Little Boy; Tom Kouchalakos - Doug; Will Marchetti - Gen. Jefferds; Jack McDermott - Spectator; Bruce McLaughlin - Man on Glass Bottom Boat; Ted Milford - Kid #1; Barrie Mizerski - Waiter; Mike Nomad - Doc; Stephanie Oldziej - Little Girl #2; Patricia Rainier - Man's Wife; Rachel Renick - Janet; Buddy Reynolds - Airforce Policeman; Glenn L. Robbins - Mr. Szydlo; Glenn Scherer - Bess's Doctor; Darcy Shean - Woman in Restaurant; Brian C. Smith - Dr. Baron; Jay Smith - Catcher; Ryan Szurgot - Little Boy #1; Tony Vila, Jr. - Umpire; Patricia Winters - Lamaze Teacher; Bill Wohrman - Coach; Kevin Corrigan - Security Guard; Carlos Gonzalez - Janitor; Matt Ford - Player #2; Madeleine Lee Gilford - Impatient Woman
Credit
Gordon Baker - Animator, Tim Berglund - Animator, Sean Turner - Animator, Gary Daigler - Associate Producer, Roy Kieval - Consultant/advisor, Jay Hurley - Costume Designer, Katterli A. Frauenfelder - First Assistant Director, Daniel Petrie - Director, Mark Warner - Editor, James Horner - Composer (Music Score), Jim Henrikson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Marie del Russo - Makeup, Elizabeth Lambert - Makeup, Lawrence G. Paull - Production Designer, Tak Fujimoto - Cinematographer, David Brown - Producer, Lili Fini Zanuck - Producer, Richard D. Zanuck - Producer, Jim Poynter - Set Designer, Fred C. Weiler - Set Designer, Greg Cannon - Special Effects, Industrial Light & Magic - Special Effects, J.B. Jones - Special Effects, Robert Short - Special Effects, Richard Jones - Special Effects, Hank Garfield - Sound/Sound Designer, Elizabeth Bradley - Screen Story, Daniel Petrie - Screen Story, Elizabeth Bradley - Screenwriter, Stephen McPherson - Screenwriter, Daniel Petrie - Screenwriter, William McConnell - First Assistant Camera
Cocoon: The Return is a 1988 science fiction film that is the sequel to the 1985 film Cocoon. Most of the original actors from the first film reprised their roles in this film.
Plot
Five years after they left, the Antereans return to Earth to rescue the cocoons that were left behind. Before they can be retrieved, one of the cocoons is discovered by a science research team and taken to a secure laboratory for testing. The aliens and their human allies must find a way to retrieve the cocoon in time for their rendezvous with the rescue ship.
Having returned with the aliens, the elderly couples from the original film face indecision about whether to return to Anterea or stay on Earth and become mortal again. Joe learns that his leukemia has returned, but he knows it will be cured again as soon as he and Alma leave Earth. However, when Alma is hit by a car, Joe gives up the last of his lifeforce to save her. Arthur and Bess learn that Bess is pregnant, and decide to raise the child on Anterea so they will live long enough to see him grow up. Ben and Marilyn decide that being with their families is more important than living forever, so they decide to stay.
The group manages to infiltrate the lab and rescue the captured Anterean. Jack sails them out into the ocean, where the space travellers and the cocoons are picked up by an alien craft. Jack then sees Sara and they walk away from the docks.
