[Gothbogg the Ripper]

Wow, I pop my head out of the gutter and what should I see? An old thread of mine risen from the dead!
In any case, I agree with you altar. You cannot build up the Ring as this evil entity and then have it completely undermined by a midget in yellow boots.
Now, I can understand why Mr. Tolkien included old Tom, he valued nature and wanted to embody that snetiment in his writing. And that's all well and good, but in a film it would be nothing but noise for the sake of noise.
Especially as the power of nature is already well represented by Treebeard and his little massacre at Isengard.