Jungle Burger & The Big Bang Reviews

• 13th Jan 2011

Jungle Burger or Shame of the Jungle as it is otherwise called makes its way to disc this month. This adult cartoon version of Tarzan has quite the reputation among certain age groups and has become, almost, a bit of a cult film.

Re-watching it you realise that it is a film that is easily appreciated in its time and the 10 years that followed but is quickly dwarfed by the 90s’ output. It isn’t to do with the animation style. If anything this style is retro but still enjoyable. It’s more to do with the ultra slow pace and mistiming of the gags. Much of this could have been improved with a bit of updated editing, or some additional sound in the background of each scene.

But the jokes that work, work well despite the heavy race and sexual content of the film. It’s the imagination of the project that will ultimately win through no matter how dumb some of the jokes can be. It is perhaps the plot itself (as it exists) that has brought out some of the more ingenious gags and characters. The rest are merely walk on episodic parts.

The film is worth watching for the sake of revisiting your past but you might be shocked at how different it is now compared to what you saw back then! With some luck tomorrows student body will be just as interested in sex, mutilation, very un-politically correct jokes and characters, multi-breasted queens and masturbating monkeys as they were over 30 years ago!

The Big Bang was made over a decade after Jungle Burger. The Big Bang is, for its time, a much more involved and clever satire piece than it ever had the right to be. The big joke is of course on warfare and each country on the planet simultaneously nuking each other. It is a smirk inducing gag which sets up the plot of a new future also on the brink of war.

Here onwards it dumbs down but at the same time becomes far too contrived to be interesting. That is to say, the plot goes all over the shop but with such wafer thin and dull characters to take us on the journey it is too much of a headache to bother to keep up.

While the animation style is a huge improvement from the last picture, the jokes are a little bit thin on the ground. Although it is worth seeing their version of Darth Vadar working as a garbage man.

Jungle Burger is out 31st January and The Big Bang is out 7th February.

Both releases come with no extras.

Steven Hurst