When I think of it, there was only one thing, one character that they changed substantially and I’m nitpicky because he was a character I loved.

I’m sorry but I disagree with people who don’t like changes like Tom Bombadil’s disappearance or (sorry Bill) Arwen’s increased role. What they added concerning Arwen in FOTR was canonical - it was stuff written by Tolkien, just not in LOTR proper, but rather in the appendices and his other writings.

The other changes don’t bother me so much. You just can’t put everything in a movie that is in a book, and I’m willing to accept that. Sometimes you have to tell things out of sequence, even have to combine two characters into one. Though I’m a huge fan of Tolkien, it seems to me that the filmmakers and writers who adapted the book have a lot of reverence for the books, and I don’t feel they were disrespectful. Yes, the changes took me by surprise, but that’s all.

Update: so who else saw it? Wha’dya think?

Update II : Maybe I’m tolerant of changes because I’m still secretly hoping for that Pippin takes a spongebath scene…