CatBus said:

Fatty Bolger, Tom Bombadil, the Barrow Downs, Scouring of the Shire, I was very pleased Jackson et al saw fit to cut all of these out. Let alone Tolkien's more overt royalism and racism.

I agree that Tom Bombadil didn't belong in the movies, but the scouring of the Shire? I loved that part of the book.... I suppose it would have made the movie too long, and made the ending feel less bittersweet and more bitter. Frodo leaves the Shire quite a few years after returning to it in the book, which wouldn't have worked as well in the movie. Still...