1) Yeah, I always put the age up to "omfg don't want to die D:" panicky invention. Also, she said she's a hundred and seven, not two hundred >.> By the point in time she would've been born (say... 1907), there were already plant breeders breeding different species for kicks.
I still like the idea of steampunk!Itex way too much thus the excessively-long fanfic on such subject.
2) It's like they were trying to appeal to me as a geek. Combination of uniforms, the road to hell being paved with good intentions, and mad science.
Also, everything ever is Nazis / caused by Nazis. We have moon Nazis, Nazis resurrecting the Norse gods, Nazis resurrecting Hitler (a few million times; everyone loves that one), Nazis causing the invention of Nutella and Twinkies... It's the equivalent of having a man walk in with a gun -- when you run out of ideas, throw some Nazis, goosestepping, and a little threatening German in there.
The MR movie got bought out by Universal. Hardwicke is still directing, Script is now being written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby who co-wrote Iron Man and Children of Men.