The movie takes place in Darkest Africa where the evil Queen Bazonga plans to conquer the earth. Before she can do that, however, she wishes to have a full set of hair so people can take her seriously. Her two-headed assistant, The Charles Of The Pits, suggest a "scalp transplant". Bazonga demands the hair of June, the maid of Shame, ruler of the jungle and sends out her penis soldiers to kidnap her.
It only gets weirder from there.
The film was the first foreign-animated film to receive both an X rating and wide distribution in the United States. It was received negatively by both audiences and critics who compared it unfavourably to Fritz the Cat and these days has almost completely fallen into obscurity. It was released on DVD as Jungle Burger in the UK by Lace DVD in 2011. As of now, there are currently no plans to release it in North America.
Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle provides examples of:
- Advertised Extra: The poster and various home media released credit actors like Bill Murray and Christopher Guest like they voice major character but they really just have voice cameos, with Murray voicing a reporter on the radio at Shame’s house while June and Flicka are having breakfast and Guest playing Chief M’Bulu who only appears at the beginning and has only one line of dialogue.
- Animated Shock Comedy: One of the first.
- Baldness Angst: Queen Bazonga. Her desire for a full head of hair is what kick starts the movie's plot.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: At one point June sleeps with Shame's monkey friend, Flicka.
- Captain Ersatz: In order to avoid being sued for plagiarism, the titular character was changed from "Tarzan" to "Tarzoon".
- Cannibal Tribe: The pygmies want to devour every human they meet.
- Damsel in Distress: June gets kidnapped early on and needs Shame to rescue her.
- Darkest Africa: Africa is portrayed as one big stereotype, with primitive (half) nude cannibalistic pygmies, white colonials on safari and omnipresent wild animals in every corner.
- Expy: Obviously of Tarzan of the Apes.
- Four-Fingered Hands: As seen in the poster.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Bazonga is not a nice lady, to put it mildly.
- Gorn: The film features quite a few instances of over-the-top bloody violence. For instance, there's a scene where Tarzoon "rescues" a black native from a lion's mouth, only for said native to be ripped in half and his bones (ribcage included!) to fall out as Tarzoon holds his upper half.
- Another great example is Brutish socking a gorilla in the stomach. The sheer strength of the impact is revealed when we get to see a shot of the poor thing lying on the ground with its bloody ribcage and pelvis hanging out of its back.
- Great White Hunter: Professor Cedric, even though he is hardly the Mighty Whitey or Bold Explorer he thinks he is.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Queen Bazonga's penis-shaped goons dive into her one by one until she explodes.
- Hungry Jungle: Characters are chased by hungry animals and cannibals all the time.
- Maniac Monkeys: Professor Cedric is Eaten Alive by them.
- Meaningful Name: Queen Bazonga. She has many breasts.
- Ms. Fanservice: June. She even shows off some full frontal nudity.
- Multiple Head Case: The Charles of the Pits has two heads that argue with each other.
- My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: Near the end of the movie a ceiling crashes down. It is shaped like Belgium and has a crack in the middle, which has the same outlinings as Belgium's language border. This is also a joke that nobody outside Belgium will get, unless they are aware of the shape of Belgium on geography maps.
- The Natives Are Restless: In one scene Tarzoon is on the run from hungry cannibals whom he can't shake off, no matter what he tries.
- Nature Hero: Subverted. Tarzoon/Shame is depicted as a complete embarrassing idiot who gets respect from nobody, not the African tribes, nor the animals, and not even his wife.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Tarzoon meets a snapping crocodile and barely survives.
- The Parody: This entire film is a parody of Tarzan (if you couldn't guess) and many 1930s jungle movies. This is also the reason why the estate of author Edgar Rice Burroughs lost their plagiarism accusation case in court. But the judge did order the film to change it's name from "Tarzan" to "Tarzoon". Johnny Weissmuller's son took the film more humorously. He even voiced Tarzoon in the American dub.
- Recycled In Space: It's an animated version of Tarzan... mixed with sex jokes!
- Also, dick soldiers in the jungle ~ who may even look like nazis.
- Shout-Out: In one scene Tintin is shown educating black people, while holding a crucifix in his hand. When one of the black pygmies' attention is caught off-guard by Tarzoon swinging by, Tintin hits the kid over the head with it. This entire scene is a reference to the colonialism in the comic book Tintin in the Congo.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: The aptly-named Brutish, who is always muttering all sorts of obscenities (when he isn't saying them out loud, that is) under his breath. Even as he is being eaten alive by the Molar Men, he's still pumping out a steady stream of "god damns" in the same irate but monotone voice.
- Time Marches On: This film came out in the wake of several other animated sex comedies like Fritz the Cat and Down and Dirty Duck, when the shock value of nudity and sex jokes in animated cartoons was still fresh and new. Nowadays, in an era where adult animated shows are more common, Tarzoon may look rather tame, if not to say infantile.
- Vine Swing: Every time Tarzoon swings on a vine, his Loincloth drops off and exposes his private parts.
