As I stated in the last SbS thread (my mistake... I was not aware of the delineation of the sequences), I disagreed with seeing the Eye of Sauron when Gandalf goes to pick up the Ring. Firstly, if it is so obviously His Ring, then why bother with the fire test at all? Secondly, I think it is one of the greatest mistakes made in the films to show evil, undisguised and unambiguous, too early. We are not left to ponder the nature of either the Ring or the Black Riders. I think a greater sense of mystery could have been maintained by holding back. For example, the scene where we see the Nine ride out from Minas Morgul following the torture of Sméagol. Great, great looking shot. Pure eye candy. But unnecessary, and in the view of this particular Platypus, unwanted.
I loved seeing the lettering on the Ring reflected on Frodo's face. Again, a great looking shot. I did miss one of my favourite lines, however:
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"I cannot read the fiery letters," said Frodo in a quavering voice.
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I didn't care for the fact that Frodo kept the Ring successfully hidden and off his person in the chest for all those hours/weeks/months/whatever the movie timeline was. I think it would have been a greater testament to the Ring's evil aspect if Frodo carried it on his person, unwilling to be parted from It. And I think a pivotal point was left out from the book:
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Gandalf laughed grimly. "You see? Already you too, Frodo, cannot easily let It go, nor will to damage It."
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But PJ made this change for a purpose, I suppose. That initially Frodo was not corrupted by the Ring.
Speaking from a purely movie point of view now, I don't see any convincing reason why we needed to be shown Gandalf's research in Minas Tirith. It would have been perfectly acceptable for Gandalf to turn up after an extended absence with his new knowledge. Similarly, we do not need to see the torture of Sméagol; it should be enough for us as viewers that Gandalf brings the knowledge of it to Frodo. Unfortunately knowing the geography as I do from having read the book, it seems ludicrous that Gandalf would journey from The Shire to Minas Tirith, to The Shire, then all the way back to Isengard. It would be far more likely if Gandalf were to simply reappear in The Shire from who knows where before making the final test, and then legging it to Saruman's place.
Once our characters have established that It is indeed the One Ring, it seems plausible to me that Frodo should have to leave The Shire immediately. Dare I say it, it perhaps makes more sense than Gandalf allowing Frodo to wait for some months before setting out. Although, in Tolkien's defence (ah, that's more like it), Gandalf was unaware of the coming of the Nine Riders to the west. I agree, however, with the earlier poster (sorry, can't recall who) who said that it was a bit unrealistic for Gandalf to expect to travel to Isengard and back in the time it would take Frodo to get to Bree. I don't know how to explain a way out of this one, and apparently neither did PJ, who seemingly put that one in the too hard basket and ignored it.
The appearance of the Wood Elves doesn't serve as great a purpose as the appearance of Gildor Inglorion in the book. Gildor saves the hobbits from discovery by the Black Rider, and sends out messages to the other wandering companies, and Rivendell, as well as serving as Sam's first exposure to the Fair Folk. In the movie, no explanation is given as to how Arwen knew that Strider and co were on the move and pursued by Black Riders (maybe her elfy-sense was tingling? Another for the too hard basket, methinks). However, I can understand why PJ included this scene: to provide more of a back story for the Elves, and explain that they were leaving the shores of Middle Earth and thus would not play as large a part in the story as viewers may have expected. Of course, Elrond explained as much to Gandalf in Rivendell, so I cannot in fact find any purpose for including the Wood Elves, and I'm not surprised the scene did not make the theatrical release.
That is actually my main gripe with the movies: not that they omitted, altered or added, but that in many instances they added or retained material that was not crucial, wasting preciouss screen time. Hey, if we're making scenes for the extended editions of the DVDs, why not give us the Barrow Downs? Or Frodo's song at the Prancing Pony?