I just saw this, and I'm not reading 20 pages of posts.
IT
WAS
AWESOME.
Dear Mr. Jackson,
I've made no secret that I found the LotR movies mediocre. But you, sir, have redeemed yourself in my eyes. This movie was fun and beautiful. While I'm still not a huge fan of your gold color grading, everything else was an orgasm for the eyes. Every time I thought you would cut something from the book, you got it in there. "What happened to the pinecone bombs? Oh there they are, excellent." "What, Bilbo's not going to hurdle Gollum? Oh cool, there he goes!" Sure, some things were questionable (the aforementioned giants, Galadriel's telepathy), but overall nice. The only nit I'd pick would be the overabundance of pretty people. Hell, you made an orc pretty, and Galadriel was practically nude with the diaphanous dress.
Sincerely,
Fade