I agree that many a battle scene could have been cut--from both books and films. I feel the reliance on the telling and retelling the same battle scenes over and over ad nauseum really detracts from the quest aspect, not to mention makes the characters in the story pretty two dimensional.

I have to say, I'm much more enamoured of the films than the books. Jackson is a better storyteller than Tolkien, IMO--and yes, I realize saying so is heresy to most Tolkien fans. But I do feel Jackson did a better job of crafting the story on film than Tolkien did on the page.

Perhaps that is what Christopher Tolkien fears?