Originally posted by: JediSage

To each his own but one of the most noticeable problems with the stories is the meandering plot that goes on and on and on. If you really want to torture yourself read The Silmarillion.

Nonsense, the plot hardly meandered. It was just extremely detailed. At worst the intricate planning on the part of Tolkien occasionally reached the point where it became emotionally dry, but that doesn't take away realism. Tolkien covered much more than just language. He covered terrain, weather, warfare, time and a whole host of other details meticulously. So sue him if he decided to write about every last bit. I like it myself. The logical cohesion of the world is what draws me to the books.

Otherwise, if I'm looking for a good, traditional story that moves me emotionally, that would be the Hobbit. That has been my favorite story of all time since I was in fourth grade. Absolutely wonderful story.

Off the top of my head, here are my least favorite aspects of the PJ movies (in a general order of magnitude:

Mythology Changes that didn't live up to the spirit of what Tolkien envisioned (like Elves at Helms Deep).
Elijah Wood being gay.
Elijah Wood squirming and yelping with his face filling the screen.
Too many close-up shots of the One Ring.
Horrible dialogue changes in many scenes.
The lack of Bombadil awesomeness.

And, off the top of my head, here are my favorite aspects of the PJ films (again, in a general order of magnitude):

The faithful and awesome visualizations (the Balrog made me have multiple orgasms in the space of a few minutes).
The music.
The attention to languages.
Sean Astin!
Ian McKellen.
Billy Boyd.
Ian Holm.
Sean Bean.
John Rys Davies.
Andy Serkis.
Cate Blanchett.
Dominic Monaghan.