Too many changes for me to enjoy.

Rating: 4/10 (31 December 2002)

Being a fan of LotR for a long time now, and after reading it through several times as well, I was disappointed with the changes that were made in this installment of the movie trilogy.
I feel that the changes made in this movie didn't help in any way to advance the plot, nor make it easier to understand for people that have never read the books. Certain changes are unforgivable in my mind as well (Changing the noble character of Faramir in the books, to something along the lines of Boromir = totally unnecessary).
Once again PJ has expanded the role of Arwen, to my chagrin. However, including her part didn't change any plot points in the story, which I guess I can accept.
The numerous changes to the Helms Deep side of the story (Saruman controlling Theoden,and Eomer's exile; just to name a few) while being minor in some cases, are still totally unneeded. Why on earth did they create an elf army to help out?!?!?!?!?
I will admit that PJ was able to handle the duality of Gollum/Smeagol quite well. He was one of the few parts of the movie I truly enjoyed (Sean Astin's portrayal of Samwise being the other).
While the battle sequence was neat in parts, the unfortunate comic relief that they included irritated me greatly. There are only so many times you can throw in a dwarf tossing joke into a movie (and so far they've had 2 too many, including the one in Fellowship).
I can see how this movie would be enjoyable to people that have never read the books, but I believe that Tolkein fans worldwide let out a universal grumble at many of these changes.