Goofs for
Napoleon Dynamite (2004) More at IMDbPro »

• Crew or equipment visible: When Deb calls Napoleon on the pay phone, a crew member's leg is reflected in the silver part of the phone.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon asks Pedro for his "tots", the tot by Pedro appears and disappears in between shots.
  
  
• Continuity: While talking with Napoleon at the lunch table, Pedro's arm is alternately at the top/bottom of the table.
  
  

• Continuity: During Napoleon's dance, his shirt tucks and untucks several times.
  
  
• Continuity: When Uncle Rico is giving his Bust Must Plus flyers to Trish and Summer, Trish is alternately holding them with one hand and then two.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The shotgun the farmer uses is reflected in the camera lens. It is reflected parallel to the bottom of the shotgun right before the shot is on bus load of kids.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Napoleon is calling Pedro after telling Rico to leave, he dials seven numbers, but you only hear the sound for six of them.
  
  
• Continuity: When Kip and Uncle Rico are sitting at Big J's for the first time, the straw in Uncle Rico's milkshake switches sides repeatedly between shots.
  
  
• Continuity: When Kip and Uncle Rico are at Big J's the first time, Uncle Rico's onion rings shift around in his bowl during their conversation.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon asks Don for a "Vote for Summer" button in the crowded hallway, there are varying amounts of people standing in front of the lockers, anywhere from a large crowd when it's handed to Napoleon, to almost no one when he throws it.
  
  
• Continuity: When Kip tells Napoleon to try and hit him, Kip is on the computer. When the two of them start to fight, the computer appears to be turned off.
  
  
• Continuity: When Grandma is telling Napoleon and Kip she is going to be gone for a couple of days, the bag of chips behind Napoleon on the kitchen counter change positions.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon is yelling at Rico to tell him, "Grandma says to go home 'cause you're ruining everyone's lives and eating all our steak," the door behind Napoleon is alternately open/closed between shots.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Cameraman's reflection is visible on Trisha's front door when Napoleon picks her up for the dance.
  
  
• Continuity: After Napoleon drops off the picture at Trisha's house, he runs onto the lawn. But when Trisha's mom closes the glass door, his reflection can be seen still on the porch.
  
  
• Continuity: When Rico is at Deb's without Kip, the chain around his neck disappears as he is unbuttoning his vest to hand her one of the "Bust Must+" flyers.
  
  
• Continuity: Kip puts a green bowl under the van's wheel and when he goes to get into the van, the bowl is blue.
  
  
• Continuity: At the wedding, when Uncle Rico asks, "Where's Napoleon?" the woman behind them briefly has sunglasses on, then they disappear again.
  
  
• Continuity: During lunch when Napoleon is telling Deb he has her stuff in his locker, the mayonnaise switches from her top lip to her bottom lip between shots.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Camera and boom mic visible twice, and shadows also visible in and around the mirror during the Rex Kwon Do scene.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon goes over to Deb in the cafeteria to ask her if she wants her stuff back from his locker, the amount of her sandwich changes repeatedly between shots.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Pedro uses the bike ramp, there is an extra support in the middle of the ramp. When Napoleon uses the bike ramp (just after Pedro used it), the extra support in the middle of the ramp is missing, and Napoleon breaks the ramp in half.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Napoleon is about to throw the "Vote for Summer" button, the girl in front of Napoleon ducks early as if to expect it coming.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon is about to throw the "Vote for Summer" button, the girl coming down the stairs disappears, then reappears as Napoleon throws the button.
  
  
• Continuity: When Pedro first places the cake at Summer's door, it has a note under the edge. The shot after the doorbell is rung does not include the note. When Summer opens the door, the note can be seen.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the opening credits, several plates are being set down onto carpet; however, all the sound effects are of plates being set onto a wood table or other hard surface.
  
  
• Continuity: At the dance in the bathroom, Napoleon reaches for his Big League Chew gum with his right hand, he pops it in his mouth with his left hand.
  
  
• Continuity: When Deb is at the door, her boondoggle keychain switches from her left to her right.
  
  
• Boom mic visible: At the dance a boom shadow pointing upwards is visible across the students' faces when the camera pans across room.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Uncle Rico pulls up in front of school as Napoleon draws a Liger, a person can be seen running left out of frame. Also, the crew is reflected in the windows.
  
  
• Continuity: While Don is trying to get Napoleon to vote for Summer in the hallway, Napoleon's FFA medal flips several times between shots.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Rex is using Kip as a demonstration at Rex-Kwon-Do, Napoleon can be seen in the mirror's reflection struggling to keep a straight face.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon throws the grapefruit at Uncle Rico's van, it clearly bounces off the windshield, yet in the next shot it is still stuck on the windshield.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Napoleon is watching Lyle shoot the cow and the bus drives in between them, the camera, tripod, and several members of the crew can be seen reflected in the glass on the bus door.
  
  
• Continuity: When Kip goes bowling he knocks down all but one of the pins. In the next shot you can see a 7-10 split visible in his lane over his shoulder.
  
  
• Continuity: The fart that Napoleon draws coming from the unicorn disappears when he closes his notebook.
  
  
• Continuity: When LaFawnduh first steps off the bus there is a man standing behind her. In the next shot, the man has disappeared.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Napoleon throws the fruit at Uncle Rico's truck, they are talking but there is no audio.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon is waiting in the van for Uncle Rico to take him to the dance, he looks at his watch. The time and date displayed is 5:40 p.m., Thursday 7/17. (They may have forgotten to change the date on the watch -- how many school dances are in July?) After he starts running down the road, he stops to look at his watch and the time and date says 5:54 p.m., Monday, 7/21.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon is drinking water from the fountain and the boy is being picked on, a girl with a crooked leg and a red top walks by once and exits. When Napoleon stops drinking she is at the beginning of the hallway again.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon is calling Kip, the position of the phone cord wrapped around Kip changes. First, it's wrapped around his body. In the next shot of him, the cord is merely by his shoulder; then it switches to being wrapped around him again.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Uncle Rico is eating steak on the porch and talking with Kip, it is obvious that he spits out the steak that he had been chewing into the paper towel tucked into his shirt.
  
  
• Continuity: During the dance scene, Deb's hair changes style.
  
  
• Continuity: When Lyle is just about to shoot the cow and the school bus moves in front, there are no kids in the bus. But in the next shot, there are.
  
  
• Plot holes: Just before Grandma leaves, she tells Napoleon and Kip that she will be back the next day. The audience can see that there is a yellow teddy bear magnet on the refrigerator with nothing underneath it. The very next day, when Napoleon gets home from school, there is a note on the refrigerator that reads, "Napoleon, Don't forget to feed Tina. Love, Grandma :-)" By this time, Grandma has already had her accident and was in the hospital, which means that she never would have had the opportunity to come home and leave the note on the refrigerator.
  
  
• Continuity: When Naploeon calls home to ask Kip to bring him his Chap Stick, the position of the nacho's, and the amount of cheese on them changes several times.
  
  
• Continuity: When giving back Deb's stuff which she left on Napoleon's porch, a piece of paper falls out. But in the next shot, it disappears and then reappears again in the third shot.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Napoleon is in front of the class doing Sign Language to the song "The Rose", none of the signs match the words being sung except the first line. They are signing lines from later on in the song.
  
  
• Boom mic visible: When Napoleon is outside talking to Pedro's mother on the telephone, the boom microphone is reflected in the one of the door's windows.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Uncle Rico throws a steak at Napoleon, stains can be seen on his clothing from previous takes.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the farmer shoots the cow, the school bus drives past him. In the shot where the kids scream, the background behind them does not move even though the bus is heard moving.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: When Napoleon is watching Pedro ride his bike off the ramp, there's a distracting long string stuck in Napoleon's hair waving around in the wind.
  
  
• Continuity: When Kip is shredding cheese you will notice that the amount of cheese in the bowl increases then decreases throughout the scene.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Cameramen reflection visible in glass of bus when it pulls up in front of the farmer and the cow.
  
  
• Continuity: When Napoleon heads to school with Deb's stuff he only has the roller with two cases. When he gets to school and is giving Deb her things back he gives her the roller with the two cases and then a third case that he didn't have when he left for school.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: In the scene following Pedro's scolding from the principal regarding the Piñata, and Pedro and Deb are chatting on the steps - a crew member wearing jeans and a white t-shirt is clearly reflected in the glass doors behind them.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the FFA contest none of the FFA members or judges are wearing their jackets zipped up, FFA rules require jackets to be worn zipped to the top.
  
  
• Factual errors: Official dress of the National FFA organization calls for males to wear black slacks. When shown in the FFA hall, Napoleon is wearing blue jeans.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The credits state that the entire movie was filmed in Idaho but the bus station and Big J's restaurant scenes were filmed in Utah.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Kip is picking "La Fawnduh" up from the bus stop behind him it says "Idago Bus Info", which contains an obvious mis-spelling of "Idaho".
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Napoleon finds the Time Machine that Pedro tried to use Kip tells Napoleon that it doesn't work, yet Kip still lets Napoleon try it.
  
  
• Continuity: When Summer and Trisha are passing out fliers and buttons, a pair of guys walk by, one wearing an FFA jacket, that Summer tells Trisha not to give buttons to. After the camera cuts back to the girls from Napoleon and Pedro, the same pair of guys can be seen walking by again.
  
  
• Continuity: When Randy starts grabbing the kid's neck in the hallway, the kid immediately reaches into his pocket. After the camera cuts back from Napoleon and the drinking fountain, the kid's hand is on his neck, and then he reaches for his pocket.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the ending sequence, Pedro is seen with a cake that reads 'Presidente Pedro! Felicidades!' Spanish exclamations are preceded by upside-down exclamation points, a detail that no person from Mexico would exclude. However, this mistake could have been made by an Idahoan pastry chef who doesn't speak Spanish.
  
  

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