They're not dumbing them down for children - they're dumbing them down for the general audience, applying the usual formulaic movie treatment to every book. The question is, what will sell? And as far as I'm concerned, the worst thing the studios do is making children's movies PG13 and above - like Batman, Transformers, etc. - and conversely, marketing mature themed games and movies to children, like Halo. The general kid audience is too small - so they're not dumbing down to reach that audience. That's why there are so few G movies nowadays - they keep trying to attract kids, teens, and adults at the same time, which hardly ever works well. It all comes down to the bottom line. btw, my DS was angry about what they did to The Lightning Thief.
