I have not seen the movie yet, and won't for
some time to come, but there are a few things
in your post that made me want to respond. At
first I though, "nah, I can't contribute to this
conversation since I haven't seen the film," but
then I decided to reply anyway. Don't hate me
because I'm meddlesome.

> This is true. I don't think the movie was
deeply flawed; indeed in many ways it's quite
a good movie. I'll probably enjoy it more on a
second viewing. But it failed to do something
that for me was important: capture roughly the
same "feel" as the book. I doubt that would
even be possible without making a much
longer movie, however.

There's the rub. Everyone's interpretation of
the book is going to be different somehow, so
no one is going to be completely happy with
the film's "feel." Your "feel" is going to be
different from Sam's "feel," which is different
from my "feel," etc. Too bad we can't all have
our own personal movies made from the
mental images in our own minds when we
read the novels.

> Another few complaints that I left out earlier:
>
> * Frodo ought to at least have cracked a rib
from that spear thrust. Mithril or not, that was
chainmail he wore, not rigid plate armor. Very
minor quibble.

Oooh, now you're telling Tolkien himself how
he should have written that scene from the
book! That's what we here in the frozen
wastelands of the north call "treading on thin
ice." Why should the director have Frodo crack
a rib in the movie when he didn't in the book?
But then, maybe he did crack a rib in the book,
and Tolkien just didn't think it was significant
enough to tell us.

Gri"Frodo probably likes it the way it is,
although I bet he'd like the 'finger-biting' scene
re-written slightly"shny