Should Tom Bombadil have been in the movies?

[Rynoah, the Overly-Happy]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>I believe he would be very hard to portray rightly and then we would be complaining about that.(Are we ever happy???). I think he is better left in the books where our imagination can make him as we want.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I agree. He would have come off as annoying, too optimistic.<P>However, I do wish they would have had at least a tiny part of him or a character like Bombadil just to show that Middle-Earth isn't this world "full of scum and villainy", to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi; that it does have some light-hearted aspects. I guess the Shire portrayed that somewhat, but I think Bombadil could have also added to it, even if his part was short (perhaps just have him free the Hobbits from Old Man Willow and send them on their way). If written carefully and portrayed any where near as well as Grima Wormtongue (who, I believe, would be a rather difficult character to pull off), he could have been brought into the movie quite well and then just quietly step aside for the story to continue. Even a short bit of him in the Extended edition would've been nice.<P>But I babble.