After you choose: Create > Movie..., then under "Delay between
pictures" pick the "Just raw frames" option instead of "1 Second", "2
Seconds", etc.  Raw frames does not include the pan/zoom effect for me
(Picasa 2 - version 2.5) and as a bonus, renders the movie a lot
faster.

I can't figure out if there's a way to edit the opening title
description Picasa inserts into the movie without renaming the folder
that contains the pictures.  It seems to automatically use the folder
name + date for the title.  I added a description to the folder and but
it still doesn't include that. The rendering of jpegs as movies was the
main reason I installed Picasa and it would be nice if they could add a
few features like:

1) Ability to customize the title frames at the beginning: color, font,
line breaks.
2) Option to add audio track.
3) Specify how long each frame displays without having that pan/zoom
effect - I wish the time-lapse videos I created with Picasa could be a
little slower:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2651360833788027958
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1226687132167082577
This one I slowed down using Windows Movie Maker 2.1's video effects on
Picasa's original 6 second output:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5165394681979390284
The lettering is blurry but I think it's nicer to watch.