Purists unrealistic...

I think the purists with all their complaints about LOTR are highly unrealistic. Sure somethings in Fellowship were changed,some things were modified,and some things were all together left out. But you can't convert a novel to film without doing those sorts of things.The movie was 3 hours long as it was,if was going to be any longer it would have had a much smaller budget.No thanks...I'll pass on fake backgrounds,bad acting,and a claymation balrog(which is what you would have had in a 4 hour+ movie)...give me a shorter movie with a bigger budget!<P>Also even with the changes, the movie FOTR probably stayed truer to the novel than any other hollywood movie that was adapted from a novel. Take any Stephen King movie,or Interview with a Vampire for instance...<P>Since its impossible to have a film that follows word for word what was in the novel...I'd rather have a good "adaptation" of Tolkien's stories on film,than have no film at all.