The Jungle Book: 17 Easter Eggs & References You Need To See

13. The Elephant Parallel

The elephants in Favreau's version are markedly different from the bumbling eccentrics in the 1967 version. Here they're magisterial and almost spiritually appreciated for shaping their forest, and while they don't have a language that Mowgli can understand, it seems very much like that is to do with their status, rather than them being "dumb".

While that's a big difference, there is still some allusion to Mowgli's dynamic with the elephants in the cartoon. At the end he obviously rides the young elephant after saving him (and is thus validated as one of the true forest animals) but even before then, the pair share a moment that is loaded.

In the animation, Hathi Jr - the young elephant - is an analogue for Mowgli: both struggle to know their place and live up to expectations, and the same happens in Favreau's film. That's the weight behind the short scene that sees the pair share a moment when the elephant troop first appears.

In terms of other characters who didn't make it or were adapted significantly differently - the vultures so famously based on the Beatles in 1967 are shorn of their personalities and appear only to herald the arrival of Shere Khan.