As I'm sure you all know that I'm maybe one of the most critical people when it comes to the films. I will say that even as a book fan, I happened to like the Prologue. And do not think it would work well later on in the movies, or cut out and replaced with some more indepth information.
The Prologue gets you introduced to the story of the Ring and the set up. I think if you keep it as a narrative (atleast for me) it wouldn't be as interesting. I mean having Gandalf and Frodo (or even Bilbo if they wanted to) sit in Bag End and talk replay history through dialogue wouldn't be as eye-catching. Unless they wanted to use flashbacks sort of interspliced with the dialogue?
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Why does Gandalf seem so unnerved by it? Why does Bilbo have such a hard time giving it up? And who are these dudes in the black cloaks who are sniffing around?
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I actually think most of these are pretty well answered early on. Maybe because I've read the book prior to the movies, but I thought the movies answered these pretty well. Atleast the first two questions, maybe not the Nazgul.
We see (through the prologue actually) the corruption the Ring has. We see it wiht Isildur, and Gollum (There it consumed him) right off the bat. Then Bilbo has trouble giving it up. I do wish that they would have had some mention of Bilbo saying the Ring kept slipping off his finger. Because, I think this is rather an important aspect of the ring. It can change sizes (a question I've heard alot...does the Ring change sizes? Why?)
And as to Gandalf being unnerved by it is pretty well shown with his reaction to Bilbo "disappearing" at the party. He knows something's up with that Ring, then we delve further into when he says "It's been called that before, but not by you." So, he obviously feels this is the One Ring and he goes to read Isildur's scroll to get a confirmation. (Though that's not til the next scene I think).