I'm ashamed to say that as much as i love Lord of the Rings, no matter how many times i read the book i can never quite understand who Tom Bombadil is or what he contributes to the story. I think for people who hadn't read the book, it would have been very confusing. Also, they cut out quite a bit of important stuff, so i would have been a little concerned if they had got rid of important bits of the story and kept Tom Bombadil. He is a very interesting character I just don't get what he does in the storyline! Maybe thats just me being stupid but still...
