I just don't understand.

[Mithalwen]

well I suppose in the film he is Prince Legolas the Perpetually Surprised - by things that aren't particularly surprising..especially for one who could (presumably) measure his time in Arda by centuries if not millenia. In FOTR he seemed startled by evidence of Orcs in Moria, crows ... just flying in the sky as birds do..not tap dancing or talking or anything wierd ...half expected him to arrive in Lorien and exclaim "Trees" ..and in TTT he was the worlds worst look out despite elvish senses.

To be fair it is quite hard to find ways to make a human playing an elf have that special quality, the otherness, that all the book characters recognize even if they have not had contact with them - and yet remain close enough to humans to make intermarriage not seem wierd. With Legolas, it is hardest because he is one of the company .. can't put him in an aura of light in the same way as say Galadriel (and if you haven't seen the exhibition her dress was so beautifully made that it did seem to radiate light) - he ended up being a bit fey and an disconcerting shade of blonde (shades of Village of the Damned)....