Here's why Cars 2 failed for me -- they tried to tell 2 competing stories. First, Lighting McQueen's big race against the French guy ... then the whole Bond/spy story. I mean, am I right?!

Hate to keep beating this drum, but it's funny to hear JK speak passionately one way, but live in a totally different reality over at DW. He took the Shrek franchise and squeezed every drop of revenue out of it he could. They did a fine job making those movies, but were the stories that compelling? Or was it an easy cash grab?

Nick, you zeroed in on the same issue I had with the movie which is they switched genres from the first movie, going the whole spy action-adventure route, while trying to keep the essence of the original. It did feel disjunctive to me, the least satisfying Pixar movie to date. And interesting to note, Cars 2 did not get nominated for an Academy Award for best animated movie.

It would be interesting to see what a new Katzenberg memo would look like, how similar or different it would read from the one 20 years ago. One big change: He's no longer an employee like he was at Disney, he's an owner. That alone could have a profound influence on his thinking such as the decision to make all the Shreks.

Great point Scott. In the end it is hard to fault the guy. He's got a passion for high end animation which has risen the tide and kept a lot of good jobs stateside. It is just interesting to see in each of these memos a succession of ideas that he has clearly turned on their heads in his decision making over at DWA.