[Elladan and Elrohir]

Excellent rebuttal, StW. It is indeed true that a bad film can generate huge revenue or rave reviews, but both at once?

I think it's sad in a way that we Downers don't get to watch the films afresh, from the perspective of those who have never read the books. Not that it was made exclusively for those people; it was made for us, too, but the effect is far different.

As a result of our love for the books, our feelings toward the films are necessarily colored. They're my three favorite films of all time, probably because of my love for the books. They're the three most-despised films of all time for other fans, probably because of their love for the books.

The tough part for me is to not just start screaming at the dislikers, "You're idiots; how in the world could you not like this?" Because they probably feel tempted to scream similar things to me. Both views are equally valid. I would love to start a thread about this, where those from opposite sides could seek to understand one another rather than scream, and perhaps I will.

Also, I will retract a bit about Frodo's film complexity vs. book complexity. What I meant was that he is weaker and struggles more than in the book. He is superficially more complex, because it takes a careful reading of the book to note the subtleties and nuances of Tolkien's portrayal. But I should not have said more complex, should have known better than to allow Jackson an upper hand in any area over Tolkien. Thank you to those who caught that.

Finally, I have not heard those words from Christopher Tolkien, but I disagree with them. I think there is a slight difference in human and hobbit aging; indeed, one would think that there must be if hobbits regularly live into their 100's. Thus, at the age of 33, Frodo might look 21. And at the age of 50, well, he would still look 21 or at least in that range thanks to the Ring. So Wood isn't that far off age-wise, in my opinion.
Of course, in spite of my views there, I still think he looks a bit too young. And he indeed does not display the maturity and leadership over the other hobbits that book-Frodo does.
But again, I think Wood's fantastic in spite of that. Brilliant acting, and I think his looks have a tinge of that elvishness that Sam noticed.