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Film

  • Adaptation Displacement: Napoleon Dynamite is a Sleeper Hit with a large cult following. As for Peluca, the short film that inspired it? Unless you have it as a bonus feature on a home video release or saw it at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival, chances are you've never heard of it.
  • Adorkable: Napoleon is a dorky highschooler with no social skills or talents, who nonetheless gets flashes of awesomeness. Pedro, Deb, and even Kip all have their moments as well.
    • Deb may be invoking this intentionally. Wearing her hair in a totally asymmetrical ponytail and hand-crafting her own muted outfits with solitary out-of-place elements of high-fashion read like the bright colors of a poisonous frog to most of her student peers, but she effortlessly catches Napoleon and Pedro's eyes - successfully filtering for people who socialize at a pace close to her own.
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees:
    • The liger is a real animal but not bred for its skills with magic. In fact, since lion and tiger genes aren't exactly compatible with one another, ligers tend to have genetic defects which lead experts to discourage trying to breed for ligers.
    • Uncle Rico's time machine is a commercially available device called the Hyper Dimensional Resonator. However, unlike as shown in the film, the T-handle is pressed against your sternum, and not between your legs.
  • Awesome Music: The film features a great soundtrack filled with memorable songs from the 80's and 90's. Notable examples include "Canned Heat" from Jamiroquai while Napoleon dances, as well as "The Promise" by When In Rome, which plays over the credits.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Shooting a cow in the head isn't funny. Shooting her while a school bus full of children passing by is.
  • Diagnosed by the Audience: A substantial chunk of viewers interpret the title character as autistic. Much of this rests on his odd posture, his stilted speaking style, his idiosyncratic gestures (such as squinting whenever he talks) that are easy to read as stims, his apparent difficulty to understand and express emotions, his love of drawing, which is easy to read as a special interest, and his struggles with socialization, which results in him befriending other "weird" students.
    • Deb is written and performed with a clear excess of social anxiety and several special interests of her own, but what's actually going on inside her head is too opaque to categorize.
  • Epileptic Trees: Napoleon has been armchair diagnosed with autism, compulsive lying, and just about every personality disorder under the sun. While a lot of his behavior may suggest some kind of condition, his habits could just as easily be ascribed to regular quirky behavior, offbeat small town dynamics, and Rule of Funny. Nonetheless, some viewers persist in finding a deeply disturbing meaning behind Napoleon's weirdness.
  • Fountain of Memes: The whole damn script has appeared on a t-shirt at some point.
    • Everything Napoleon says. "Gosh!" "Frickin' idiot!" "I like your sleeves." "Fine!"
    • Also, Kip's "Your mom goes to college!"
    • "Tina you fat lard come get some dinner!"
    • BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!
    • And the "Vote for Pedro" shirt might count as well.
    • Napoleon's dance routine is also a popular dance to reenact.
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • Napoleon might get beaten up less if he wasn't so rude to his bullies when they ask him simple questions. Though since they often beat him up without being provoked anyway, he probably has a right to be a jerk at them back. It's kind of a chicken-or-egg thing.
    • Not to mention that a person being rude to you is still not a valid reason to beat them up, and bullies are only looking for an excuse anyway, so why not take at least some satisfaction from it?
  • Retroactive Recognition: Yep, that's Mac's mom from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia playing as Grandma Dynamite.
  • Signature Scene: Napoleon's dance scene during the high school election, accompanied, by the song "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai.
  • Spiritual Adaptation:
  • Squick: The farm lunch scene. Sandwiches covered in flies? Nummy! How about orange juice infused with raw egg?
  • Unintentional Period Piece: The film immediately dates itself at the start by setting the year as 2004-2005, but the film's aesthetic more resembles the 1980s, with only one song from the 2000s at the end. When asked what time period the film takes place in, Jared Hess replied "Idaho." Most assumed that this was a case of Teasing Creator, but it was his way of explaining just how behind the times the state is. Many who visited Idaho after the film came out were quick to note how little the creators exaggerated its distance from the pulse of the rest of society.
  • Values Dissonance:
    • Use of the word "retarded" started to come under heavy scrutiny in the 2010s, generally seen as unacceptable and very offensive, so Napoleon using the word at one point can be very jarring given how the film otherwise makes heavy use of Gosh Dang It to Heck! and is rated PG.
    • Trisha's mother forcing her to go to the dance with Napoleon just because he given a portrait he drew of her also hits differently as girls' right to say no to boys if they're not interested is becoming more accepted.
  • Watch It for the Meme: Or at least, the lines all your friends have been repeating ad nauseum.


Animated Series

  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Considering how grounded in reality the original film is; several elements in the animated series such as the "Pioneer Punch Club," Uncle Rico's wolf ears, or the Thundercat's inspired visions of Shasta the Liger seem like a massive departure from reality and veer for cartoon slapstick.
  • Funny Moments:
    • Napoleon getting blasted into the air after he tries to sneeze, fart, burp, and yawn at the same time in "Ligertown".
    • The fact that Kip thought Goof Nutz Pizza was an appropriate place for a 32-year-old man to have a date.
    • In "Thundercone", there's a flashback to when Napoleon was a baby and Kip stole his pacifier. This causes Baby!Napoleon to cry with his signature Jon Heder voice.
      • Another example in the flashback is when Kip took Napoleon's seatbelt on a Gravitron ride, resulting in Napoleon getting flung out of the ride into a nearby tent.
    • After using the Rack-U-Tane, Napoleons sweat becomes so acidic that he melts a hole in the floor, and Pedro can be seen through it.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Uncle Rico. In the Animated Adaptation he is despised by pretty much by everyone. At the end of one episode it's revealed that he is a very sad and lonely guy.
  • So Okay, It's Average: Consensus is mixed, unlike the movie it was based on. Also it didn't stand out much between the much revered Bob's Burgers and the much reviled Allen Gregory both airing around the time it debuted, and the series was quietly cancelled after six episodes.
  • Squick:
    • The Dynamite's eating 3-day old gas station chicken in the first episode.
    • Summer spitting her malt shake into Don's mouth in "Scantronica Love".
    • Napoleon had to deliver a liger cub into an old 12-piece bucket in "Ligertown". even Napoleon himself finds it disgusting.
    • Uncle Rico cooking an egg to eat in the same water he boils his underwear in.

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