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| Horner |
Cocoon: The Return: (James Horner) What's the
point? Ah, yes... profits. Who can argue with a studio determined to
reprise a popular concept in nearly an identical sequel just to fleece
bored audiences of some extra cash? There is no good reason for the 1988
film
Cocoon: The Return to exist, outside of studio greed and a
feeling of nostalgia on the part of some audiences for its 1985
predecessor. The same cast of familiar veteran actors returned for a
second splash in the water, as did nearly all of the auxiliary character
actors. The retired folks beamed into the sky by alien creatures in the
plot of the first film have been living a life without worries in a
silver city beneath three moons on a far away planet. When the aliens
need to return to Earth to recover their remaining cocoons, one of which
raised from the ocean floor and probed by the military, they allow their
adopted humans to return for a few days to visit with their families on
Earth. This setup allows
Cocoon: The Return to basically rehash
all of the dilemmas from the first film, following the decision-making
process of each of the returning characters in their determinations to
leave again or stay. Some of them, during this time, conveniently
perish. This yields another whole round of tearful goodbyes and wondrous
scenes of lights from the sky, all of which effectively appealing though
highly redundant. While nearly all of the cast from
Cocoon
returned for the sequel, most of the crew did not; gone was director Ron
Howard and his usual collaborators, writers, photographers, and, with
them, the Steven Spielberg influence on the production. In their place
was a list of lesser talent, with the curious exception of composer
James Horner, whose score for
Cocoon is both strong in context
and a fan-favorite on album. Horner, despite his claims to be adverse to
covering familiar territory in the form of bland sequels (at least as he
stated in relation to his self-extraction from some franchises), several
times took exactly such assignments, and
Cocoon: The Return is
about as predictable as one could get. There is no doubt that Horner's
combination of early jazz and melodramatic orchestral themes was an
important factor in the emotional appeal of the first film, but to hear
the exact same score regurgitated once again is, despite the general
quality of Horner's sound for the concept, somewhat discouraging.
Cocoon: The Return isn't a concerted improvement over the
original, as Horner so surprisingly accomplished later with
The
Legend of Zorro over its predecessor, for instance.
The ingredients of
Cocoon were fairly standard
to Horner's career, and
Cocoon: The Return only reinforces them.
The sole sense of life and spirit in the sequel score exists in the
three or four outbursts of vintage jazz, led by extended performances in
"Taking Bernie to the Beach" and "Basketball Swing." Horner has emulated
the sound of Glenn Miller several times in his career (especially in
*batteries not included), but never has he so directly taken
fragmented excerpts from existing jazz standards of the era for his
scores. So while this vintage sound in
Cocoon: The Return may
provide the album with its only spark of energy, it's as familiar (and
potentially as tired) as the orchestral passages in the score. The
totality of the full-ensemble material in the sequel score is comprised
of rearrangements of the themes from the first film, with "Returning
Home" serving as an auxiliary concert version of the first score's major
ideas. From the weighty string theme of pastoral character to the
flighty, accelerating flute effect representing the fantasy element, all
of the ideas you remember from the first score are present here. The
secondary themes representing the old folks are equally omnipresent,
culminating in a predictable reprise in "Rescue: The Ascension." All of
these melodies are quite attractive, especially for those who sought
Cocoon as an early representation of Horner's trademark dramatic
sound, though the performances of these ideas in
Cocoon: The
Return, while still utilizing the same percussive effects to
embellish the sense of wonder, are not as fully symphonic in their
representations, reflecting the more intimate and sad nature of this
story. The difference in gravity between the two scores shouldn't deter
the latter entry from holding a place in the collection of a sincere
Cocoon enthusiast, however. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of
the second score is its total inability to generate either a new
thematic construct of note or any substantial material for the military
and rescue subplot. Solo acoustic guitar tones in "Joe's Gift" and
"Growing Old" will be somewhat fresh, and some mundane but serviceable
action material at the outset of "Rescue: The Ascension" might satisfy
some listeners, but on the whole,
Cocoon: The Return is as stale
as Horner could have possibly made it. On album, the early Varèse
Sarabande product of 1988 went long out of print but never became a top
collectible. A limited 2016 Club presentation from the same label offers
18 more minutes but, unfortunately, this material remains as redundant
as everything else. Ultimately, this film didn't need anything more than
what it got from Horner, but it's still disappointing to hear such utter
stagnation.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.15
(in 108 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 203,346 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert of the 1988 album includes no extra information about the score or film. That of the 2016
product contains extensive notation about both.
