I think the problem Pixar are having is that they've started to think up concepts and then build a story round it, instead of the other way round.  For example, I think I remember hearing that Toy Story was made because someone in Pixar had the idea "What happens to our Toys after we grow up?" which is an interesting question and a story that you can tell.  Now I feel like its more about the concept and the demographic that they're trying to target. For example, with Brave they wanted to make a film with a female lead to attract young females and then they realised they had to make a story, which seems to me to be a bad way to make a film.

And I think corporate politics, like has already been mentioned has had a big part in it.

Can I throw Belleville Rendezvous into the mix?  I god damn love that movie...

I know I don't contribute to the forums as often as I might like, but I rely a lot on this show.  I don't fit in that well at school, so the "friends in your head" thing really does speak to me, 'cause I now that after all the shit at school, at least when I got home on a Monday there'll be a new commentary waiting for me, so thanks guys.

Oh and you're all totally douche-bags.

I agree Bullet3, the younger generation is almost told what to enjoy; this kind of film and this kind of book. I can speak from experience that it is considered odd when we broaden our minds beyond what is considered the norm for our age group.  I also agree with Invid, that it is positive that there is a wider young audience reading, but the problem is that most of them will never expand beyond this kind of book.  Things like "The Catcher in the Rye" and "Ender's Game" could be considered young adult but also masterpieces; surely they are much more enlightening and entertaining reads then supernatural soap operas?

Nevertheless I caved in and read the book which I found lightly entertaining, but with a lot of deus ex machina and sloppy writing, before I went to see the film with some friends.  It was ok, but I believe that in order to maintain a rating that would let its primary audience see it the film had to use a lot of shaky-cam and quick cuts, which started to get annoying quickly.  I thought the story was fine, if lacking slightly in originality and suffering from the same kind of problems as the book, whilst the film was well paced and the acting better then is the norm for tween market films.  In fact, my favourite part of the film was Isabelle Fuhrman, who, despite a small part in this particular movie, is quickly becoming one of my favourite young actors.

The best commentary not DiF related that I ever listened to is, now bear with me, the Twilight commentary by Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart.  It's like a damn riff-track, because its pretty obvious that they hate that damn movie.  It's hilarious.

I'm afraid I'll have to go raving lunatic.  Although I admire your dedication, and if this was true would make the prequels a hell of a lot more interesting, unfortunatly I believe it came down to the fact that Lucas wanted to shove in a Cee-Threepio, trying to make a cult, child friendly character, and failed miserably.

I want to finish my A-Levels and hopefully get the grades I need to get into Oxford Uni to study Politics & History, where I already have a provisional place, which is kind of exciting, and I haven't really looked much beyond that...

I enjoyed the book immensely, not as a work of art (as some people would haver you believe) but as a good, entertaining piece of fiction.  I wasn't blown away by the Swedish version and was hoping for an improvement from Fincher, yet "the man" said I was too young to watch it and, judging by the various opinions expressed here, I'm missing out on something quite special...