Factual error: When they show the capital building in Washington DC it is still under construction, but it was actually finished in 1864 - 5 years before the movie's set.
Factual error: Porter cuts the fuel line on the car but in reality, fuel lines are mostly steel except for a few joints which are only a few inches long. There would be no rubber tube long enough to be cut as shown in the film. (01:01:30)
Factual error: If the access hatch to the nose wheel well on an airliner was opened at any time during the take off run every alarm panel in the cockpit would light up like a Christmas tree. The pilot would immediately abort take off.
Factual error: In one scene supposedly set in the late '70s (Andy was about to get/just got "Taxi"), Andy is playing Ms. Pac Man. I may be wrong here, but didn't Ms. Pac-Man come out in 1982 or 1983? (00:29:30)
Factual error: During the final game against the Knights, whenever the score is shown on "TV", the Knights' score (home team) is shown on top and the Sharks' score (visiting team) is shown on the bottom. In sports, the visiting team's score is always on top and the home team's score is always on the bottom.
Suggested correction: In American sports yes, but not in other sports. In fact during the 1970's, NBA scores showed the home team score first.
Factual error: Joan's brother Pierre did not die at the fight at Paris. He actually outlived her and testified at her Trial of Rehabilitation.
Factual error: Early in the movie when the interior of the downed aircraft is shown (underwater in Chesapeake Bay), with the eerie picture of Dutch's wife and the congresswoman's husband sitting underwater in first class with their hair waving slowly in the current, they are shown on the right side of the aircraft (the left side as we are looking at them, but the right side of the plane proper). Yet, when the airline representative is discussing this "problem" (non-married-to-each-other people apparently flying as a couple), they are announced as sitting in row X (don't remember), seats A and B. Aircraft seating is always done from left to right - i.e., the A and B seats would be on the other, or left, side of the aircraft.
Factual error: In the scene where the fire department responds to the fire, the engine is 42. Yet all the fireman's hats say 6. The engine company, station etc. would all be the same number so their helmets should have also been 42.
Factual error: In the scene where the cast find the guns in the tiny coffins, they mention that it is not possible to tell if they are loaded because the clips are welded. Being semi-automatic pistols, simply pulling back the slide & ejecting the first round would have easily determined whether live or blank rounds had been loaded.
Factual error: As Ray is fighting the big inmate over the cornbread, Ray falls over, revealing a yellow patch on the bottom of his boot. That patch is the trademark of a Vibram sole. Vibram started using the yellow patch in 1965. The scene takes place in the 1930s.
Factual error: The Monet stolen by TC is credited as being the first painting in the Impressionist school, a clear reference to Monet's "Impression: Sunrise" of 1872. However, the painting shown during the entire film is "San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight," a 1906 Monet painting.
Factual error: In the opening short "Pikachu's Rescue Adventure," in the Bellossom song and dance shot, a Poliwhirl calls itself a Poliwrath. This is obviously a mistake because of the body differences between the Pokémon.
Factual error: When the police arrive at the Little house to take the "missing person" report, their car has a blue light on top. Police in New York display red lights.
Factual error: When Sheriff Emmett Kimsey (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Dr. Sheila Casper (Dina Meyer) enter the mine shaft and fall down into the cavern full of guano, they light a flare. The flame would have caused the fumes to ignite.
Factual error: This film takes place on New Year's eve in the year 1981, yet between a couple of scenes, it shows the streets of New York filled with modern-day cars and taxis.
Factual error: After the weird little man steals Jamie Fox's car, he starts to pull out of the station. You hear an unmistakable tire squealing sound. Unfortunatly the gas station had a dirt ground. It's probably been pointed out a few thousand times that you can't squeal tires on dirt.
Factual error: Just as Ralph Fiennes is getting out of a car to run across the road you can see, just as he steps out, road markings that were not around in the mid forties and that weren't on the road in a shot just previous when you could see the road behind Fiennes in the car window. (01:09:05)
Factual error: In the scene where the Iron Giant is spinning the boy around in a junk car he is holding, notice that the car resembles a 1959 Cadillac...however since the film is set around 1957, this is not a likely car to be found anywhere yet, much less a junk yard. (00:46:20)
Factual error: In the end credits, the year is given as MCMXCVIX. This is not a correct Roman numeral. It should be MCMXCIX.
Factual error: There are two rentals cars driven by "Theresa" which have the same North Carolina license tag number, which is displayed on the front where required in Maine, the actual location of filming, but in North Carolina, license plates are not displayed on the front of the cars.