Factual error: When Edward Bloom is parachuting on his secret mission, he is wearing a British parachute harness.
Continuity mistake: When Bloom first goes to see Jenny about buying her house, the door is rhombus-shaped (as to fit with the slanting house), but when Bloom rips the door off, it lands on the floor as a regular rectangle. (01:36:35 - 01:39:05)
Continuity mistake: When the house is burning we can see flames coming out of the window. However when Edward comes out of the house with the dog, we can see the window is intact.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning when Josephine answers the phone and it is Will's mother speaking, the phone switches from Josephine's right hand to her left hand between the shots. (00:07:20)
Continuity mistake: When Edward and Karl the giant are leaving Ed's hometown, Edward hands over his backpack to Karl as he's taking a different path. In one shot Edward is Ewan McGregor, but in the next (when he's shot from the back) he is obviously played by a child. It's probably to make Matthew McGrory look big without special effects. (00:28:20)
Continuity mistake: When the Korean soldiers do their kung-fu bit they end in a pose shoulder-to-shoulder, but the next shot shows them at least a foot or two apart. (01:10:55)
Continuity mistake: When Edward meets Norther in the bank they shake hands twice. (01:20:25)
Continuity mistake: At the dinner table when Edward says "Don't know if you are aware of this Josephine.", there is a yellow bowl right in front of him. The bowl keeps changing position during the shots. (00:40:05)
Continuity mistake: When Edward meets Karl after leaving Specter he walks out of the forest to the road on leaves. Even the shot looking down from Karl's point of view shows leaves all the way to the road. When the camera cuts to show down the road as they walk, only grass can be seen from the road to the edge of the screen. (00:40:50)
Continuity mistake: When Will and Edward are outside the boat, we can see the distance between them change from the wide shot to the close-up of them. (00:04:05)
Factual error: When Danny DiVito tells Edward that his future wife goes to Auburn, he tells Edward to hurry because the semester is almost over. Up until about 5 years ago, Auburn was on the quarter system. (00:59:50)
Continuity mistake: As Edward leaves Specter you can see the whole street is bright. When it cuts to a front shot of Edward walking, you can see shadows from buildings suddenly appear on the street. (00:37:50)
Continuity mistake: When eating the meal the first time Edward is in Specter, the mayor has some stains on his shirt by his tie. Later in the meal the stains have disappeared. (00:32:10)
Continuity mistake: Around the table when Norther says "At night when the wind goes through the trees, you could swear there was a symphony playing just for you." Edward has a fork in his hand. At first there is nothing on the fork, but when young Jenny takes off with his shoes suddenly some pie has appeared on the fork. (00:31:35)
Continuity mistake: As the Ringmaster is preparing to sign his contract with Karl, the Mr. Soggybottom next to him shifts his hand from the top of the contract to the bottom and back. (00:51:40)
Continuity mistake: After the poet grabs his poem back from Edward he has the book folded in half and starts to sit down. When it shows a close-up of him sitting the book isn't folded in half. (00:34:30)
Continuity mistake: When Will brings the canned drink to his father, the cushion at the foot of the bed keeps changing back and forth from smooth to wrinkled.
Factual error: As Jenny Hill is signing over the deed of her land and house to Edward, you can see that the recording location (Volume, Page) is filled in. Also, the County Clerk's seal has been applied at the bottom of the document. In truth, this is the last step. The County Clerk will never see this document until all signatures have been gathered, and only at that time will the recording location be known. (01:42:25)
Continuity mistake: When Josephine turns off the radio in Edward's room there is a jar on the night table. First the handle is pointing towards the wall. In the following shots the handle points out. (00:41:00)
Continuity mistake: When Edward Bloom goes into the tent with the Korean officers, he pulls the string on the lamp closest to the tent door, and it turns off the lights in the tent. When he turns the light back on, the power string is now on the lamp in the middle of the tent. (01:11:05)
Chosen answer: Deregulation of the U. S. savings & loan industry in the early 1980's greatly reduced the restrictions on which federally-chartered S&Ls could invest their money. Since the depositors' money was insured by the federal government, the S&Ls had no incentives to minimize risk. This resulted in a major political scandal by the end of the decade, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars being lost through questionable investments, with taxpayers picking up the tab. Many of the most egregious violators were based in Sun Belt states, including Texas. The fashions do appear to be a bit out of date, however.