[Meriadoc1961]

Rose, I will answer your question first, since I saw you post the same question elsewhere. No, the theme did not change even though changes were made with the character of Arwen. It is still Good vs. Evil. The point of undertaking the journey is still intact: to destroy the ring of power and bring about the end of the domain of Sauron, thereby saving the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.<P>I have read LotR and the Hobbit every February since 1974. I look forward to reading them again. I, therefore, had some misgivings about seeing this movie, but I can say I really did enjoy it. I was left wanting more, and can hardly wait for the next installments. I actually had tears in my eyes throughout the entire movie.<P>I was very pleased that there were no swearing words in the movie, and no nudity. Too many times these are put in movies when they are absolutley unnecessary. <P>The movie was actually frightening at points with real terror, as can be found in the books. This was also pleasing to me.<P>I was much impressed with how many times the script was word for word taken from the book, such as when Gandalf was fighting the Balrog in Moria. <P>The scenes with the Black Riders were excellent in capturing their essence, whether seen by normal sight, or by altered sight while wearing the ring.<P>I would have liked to have seen the Old Forest with Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil, and the barrow downs. In addition, I would have preferred to have seen the presentation of gifts by the Lady Galadriel to the members of the fellowship at their parting from Caras Galadon.<P>I was not too disappointed with the character changes made to Arwen. I would agree that the river scene could just as easily been accomplished using Elrond and Gandalf, as is in the book.<P>I was disappointed that the Hobbits and Strider did not stop and see the trolls frozen in stone forever after arguing over which was the best way to cook 13 Dwarves and one Hobbit. <P>I wish I could have seen Frodo dancing on a table, jumping in the air, and disappear into a pile of broken crockery while singing "The cow jumped over the Moon," instead of seeing him trip over a foot and have the ring fly up in the air for all to see, and then slip onto his finger on its own.<P>I actually did not mind the Saruman and Gandalf battle scene. To me, this seems a logical extension of what we learned from the books, and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that such a battle could have occurred. Gandalf only relates the tale of his caprure; we are never given a "real time" account in the book by Tolkien. What we did learn was that Gandalf was trapped and put atop a pinnacle of Orthanc. He had to have gotten there somehow, and no one had everm caught him before. Remember, he had wandered in the realm of Dol Guldur in search of Thrain years previously, and had not been captured. This fighting scene seems to be a logical inference of possible events to me. I find this much more plausible than having Arwen call up the waters to create a flood to unhorse the Nine, when Tolkien explained this process in detail: Elrond had the power to control the flood, and Gandalf added his magical touches here and there.<P>For those of you who are disappointed, I hope you can reconsider. It was much better than what we were presented with back in 1978.