Jerry Seinfeld’s crowning achievement was not his ’90s sitcom “Seinfeld,” but his 2007 animated comedy film “Bee Movie,” which tells the groundbreaking story of a talking bee who seduces with a somehow a human woman. Seinfeld’s second best achievement was when he tricked comedian Chris Rock into playing a mosquito named Mooseblood in that same movie; it was a role that didn’t seem to interest Rock too much, at least if Rock’s words in a 2007 interview are to be believed.
“He told me what it was, but he actually told me [Director Steven] Spielberg was going to be there and when I get there, there’s going to be no Spielberg,” Rock explained. “So he kind of owes me. I don’t know how. I’m just going to keep this chip and figure out when I can cash it in. »
Of course, Chris Rock was just one of many celebrities inexplicably involved in “Bee Movie.” On the film’s roster, Ray Liotta and Sting played themselves, John Goodman played the sleazeball, Oprah Winfrey as Judge Bumbleton, and Patrick Warburton as the guy who gets cuckolded by a bee. It was a wild, star-studded film, which certainly didn’t hurt Chris Rock’s career trajectory. This wouldn’t be the last time Seinfeld directed something this stupid, either.
“‘Bee Movie’ is pretty good,” Rock said in the same interview. “It’s a little better than ‘Shrek’.”
Who was Mooseblood, Barry Benson’s mosquito friend?
Mooseblood’s role in “Bee Movie” is quite brief. He meets Barry while traveling in a truck carrying honey. They chat for a bit before Mooseblood spots a truck carrying blood and decides to jump towards that vehicle instead. (He is greeted by a group of other friendly mosquitoes.) Mooseblood’s real contribution to the film is thematic: he is there to subtly lay the groundwork for the film’s main thesis, that moderation is the best policy for most problems.
Barry later learns that while humans exploiting bees is wrong, it’s also not a good idea to completely cut humans off from honey, as that would lead to bees becoming lazy and flowers everywhere to fail. no longer get the pollination they need. For this scene, however, Barry is simply introduced to the life of a mosquito; While bees live in tight-knit collectivist communities, mosquito society is a libertarian dream, with “each mosquito alone”. Neither lifestyle is completely satisfying, the film argues; just like a compromise between humans and bees, a happy medium between the lifestyles of bees and mosquitoes would be best for Mooseblood and Barry.
Mooseblood appears later in the film for a slight joke about becoming a lawyer. “I was already a blood-sucking parasite,” he tells his new client. “All I needed was the briefcase.” It’s a cynical joke, sure, but it’s an optimistic note for Mooseblood’s character. Just as Barry finds a healthy compromise between the bees’ complete submission and their complete freedom, Mooseblood finds a way to help others while remaining true to his individualistic mosquito-fighting code. It may not be honey, but Mooseblood’s ending is certainly sweet.
