Thanks everybody for all the comments. There were a number of things I hadn't really thought about before.
zb - Your comments about the off-screen relations of the actors was one of these. You are probably right. If Elijah was their "younger brother and buddie", this relationship probably seeped over into the film.
Lailath - What a great way to put the problem:
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What the hell are they doing sending that pale, shivering, doe-eyed child out into the wild with the most dangerous thing in Middle Earth around his neck? Are they nuts?
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Evisse - "Laying low on the whining" would certainly have helped! I am a complainer myself. But there are only so many times we can be reminded that Frodo is suffering by anguished looks on the face and rolling of the eyes!
Gorwingel - Yes, Gildor's comment in Tolkien about Frodo being a "jewel of a hobbit" is another good example. And it would have helped to establish Frodo as having some respect among the Elves by knowing a bit of the language. That could even have been done casually in Rivendell, if they didn't want to take the time to depict the scene with Gildor.
They could even have kept him young and cute. (Hey, those eyes are beautiful!) Wisdom is not only the province of the old....but Frodo would have had to show a maturity and grace that's simply missing from the present character.
Lyta - I wish I could have seen that Frodo guy in costume. It's not in their archives, is it?
Sleeping Beauty - You're right that the movie has done an incredible job of leading people to the books. And that's one reason I do have respect for PJ and his creation. In my opinion, he did have respect for the story but reserved for himself the prerogative of changing things so they would come off in a different media. Books and film do have different artistic demands.
We keep forgetting but it is possible to make a movie that would have been faithful to all the details in the book (all the things we complain about), yet utterly lacking in any real feeling or sense of connection with Middle-earth. The Harry Potter movies are like that in my opinion. Good faithful adaptions plodding along but lacking any real sense of wonder and magic that is the heart of that story.
And when I go see RotK or the EE of the other films, I do get a genuine feeling that the movie is conveying some very important themes: friendship, sacrifice, the lushness of land in Middle-earth, the passing of the Elves etc. These were reflective of Tolkien's mind and values. I can forgive PJ omissions and even plot deviations. It's the change in characters that drives me nuts!
But this is the best we're going to do for a
long time. I've been waiting years for a decent movie! When I compare these films with the Book, they fall short. But when I compare them with other fantasy films, they stand head and shoulders above the crowd.