Continuity mistake: Near the beginning when Mr. Sir says "Those buzzards will pick you clean..." he is walking away from Stanley. When the camera angle changes, he starts to walk away again. (00:08:50)
Continuity mistake: When Stanley is in the cafeteria for the first time, he walks over to the counter to get his food and he has a cup on his tray, when there is a close-up of his tray, the cup is gone. (00:13:00)
Continuity mistake: When the boys are surprised that Zero talked we see Armpit and X-Ray. X-Ray is holding food, but in the next shot he's just making a fist. (00:13:55)
Continuity mistake: After Zero asks "Did they have red X's on them?" we see Zero, Squid, and Armpit. Armpit is bent low over the table, but in the very next shot when he says "What else can you do," he is sitting up straight. (00:13:55)
Continuity mistake: When we see the flashback of Stanley's trial, we first see Stanley in a blue buttoned-down shirt. The camera goes to Clyde and when it goes back to Stanley he is in a dark-gray suit. (00:14:15)
Continuity mistake: When Elya Yelnats tells Myra's father that he has "a heart full of love" we see Myra in the background. She puts the laundry that she is washing up against her chest twice. (00:19:45)
Continuity mistake: When we see Stanley after he has taken his shower and Mr. Sir is trying to shoot the lizard, Stanley is far away from his pile and close to Mr. Sir. In the very next shot, he is only a couple steps from his pile and farther from Mr. Sir than before. (00:25:10)
Continuity mistake: When we hear Stanley's voice reading the letter to his mother, we see Stanley getting food in the cafeteria. In all the different shots of his tray, the food and cup differ completely. (00:26:50)
Continuity mistake: When the tent D boys find the cloud in the sky, we see a shot of the cloud, the camera goes back to the boys and then back to the cloud. The problem is the cloud looks different in these two shots, even though the two shots were only seconds apart. (00:37:30)
Continuity mistake: When Mr. Sir gets angry at the boy who said, "What happened to your face?" he asks the campers if he looks good and you see D-Tent sitting in the upper left hand corner, everyone is sitting down. In the close up of D-Tent, X-Ray and Armpit are standing then. In the next shot with Mr. Sir, you see Armpit and X-Ray going to sit down. Then back to Mr. Sir, you see X-Ray standing. (01:01:05)
Continuity mistake: When Zero hit's Mr. Pedanski in the face with a shovel, you see him fall face forward, but when we see him again his face is facing up. (01:10:35)
Continuity mistake: When Zero runs away we see Stanley touching his hat, but when the camera goes to a further angle we see Stanley not touching his hat. (01:11:00)
Continuity mistake: When Zero throws up on the rock, we then see him start to roll down the hill and for a split second we see that the rock he just threw up on is dry. (01:24:25)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Caveman and Zero found dirty water on the mountain, you see them splash around in it, but the next morning, in another scene, their suits are just dirty at certain spots. (01:26:50 - 01:29:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Stanley and Zero are digging to find the chest toward the end of the movie, the background behind them is just a dirt wall. In a following shot upon discovering the box, there are stairs that lead to the hole. In the next shot, these stairs are gone again and it's just the hole again. (01:38:05)
Continuity mistake: At the end, right before the rainstorm comes, ZigZag jokes: "Say, I didn't know that Marian was a man's name." Mr. Sir replies: "It ain't" then ZigZag smiles and looks downward. The next shot, it zooms on Stanley (who is in front of ZigZag) and you can see that ZigZag has a blank expression on his face and is merely looking around. (01:45:35)
Continuity mistake: When they open the treasure at the end of the movie, Stanley hold his hand over his mouth before it opens. Then in the next shot his hands are on the table. (01:50:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Madame Zeroni is explaining to Elya Yelnats about the curse that will be bestowed upon him if he doesn't carry her up the mountain after presenting the pig to Myra's father, her blouse is a blue button-up with gold stripes and no collar. Then the camera looks at Elya, and then back at Madame Zeroni. When it looks back at Madame Zeroni, you can see that her blouse is now a gold button-up with a collar.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Trout's gang burns the school and kills Sam, there is a part where Katherine runs into the sheriff's office then exits. A few seconds later, Katherine runs by a shop on which the name is reversed. Very obvious.
Continuity mistake: The cast even points this out on the commentary: At the camp, where the tents and cabins are, there are trees at times and sometimes there aren't.
Answer: More than likely, different lengths of sentences depending on the crime and severity of it, just like a prison sentence is different based on that.
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