Cocoon: The Return

Cocoon: The Return (1988) is Daniel Petrie's sci-fi comedy-drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. It picks up the 1985 hit Cocoon. The rejuvenated seniors who left with the aliens for a world without aging come back to Earth for a short visit.

The Antareans need to recover cocoons left in the ocean, and the old gang signs on to help while reconnecting with family. Home brings a hard choice: endless youth among the stars, or a brief, real life with the people they love. Ben (Wilford Brimley) and Mary miss their grandson; Joe (Hume Cronyn) and Alma (Jessica Tandy) find each other again; one cocoon ends up in the lab of a scientist played by a young Courteney Cox. Don Ameche, Steve Guttenberg and Maureen Stapleton are back too.

The sequel is gentler and sadder than the original, trading wonder for talk of age, mortality and what it means to stay. For anyone who loved the first film, that warm, unhurried tone is the whole point. Stream Cocoon: The Return (1988) online on iFILM.