[KappaKittyCat]

I know! Aragorn wasn't lost in the battle with the Uruk-hai. He didn't fall off of any cliff or drown in any river. The ensuing melodrama wasn't in the book. However, I don't think that the addition of Arwen and Eowyn in this movie was over the top at all. It helped to have some more character development from them. The way I see it is that, in the books, Tolkien glosses over a very important point, which is that Arwen is giving up her immortality to be with Aragorn. Elrond does not want her to do so, and both he and Galadrial (Arwen's grandmother) caution Aragorn against pursuing their relationship because of this. They try to get him to give her up, but she won't give him up. It didn't really hit me about the whole immortality thing until the third or fourth time I read the books, and then I started crying. I think that adding this stuff isn't really over the top, as they're just expanding on Tolkien's subtext. It will help explain what happens in the end, when Arwen gives her place on the ship to Frodo. I do, however, think that they could have glossed over the Aragorn-in-dream-state stuff and actually included things that are in the book, like the meeting at Orthanc and the encouter with Shelob at Cirith Ungol.

Yes. Last Alliance. Final. Done. Enough. Not to mention that it makes the Rohirrim look like weaklings who can't defend themselves.

Faramir... grr. There's supposed to be the instant trust between Faramir and Frodo, and that doesn't happen at all. In the movie, it's Sam who gets Faramir to release Frodo, and that's just wrong. Sam has a part to play, but it comes later.

I must add that my favorite part in FOTR is the Look that Elrond gets on his face when Merry and Pippin come running into the Council. I know that it doesn't happen like that in the book, but the Look is priceless. I have watched that scene over and over 'cuz it's so great.