I miss the barrows, too, because Frodo shows here that he is stronger inside than suspected. (Gandalf does say that the moment in the barrows was the most dangerous up to the meeting in Rivendell.) Of course, having 4 naked hobbits running on the grass to warm up would have been interesting to get past the censors. What I miss most, however, was Galadriel's warm greeting of Gimli - with words of his secret tongue - which starts the improvement in elf-dwarf relations and leads to the idea that peril can be finding something beautiful and precious then having to leave it behind. BUT, the movie does some things much better than the books. (And yes, I am surprised to say this about an adaptation of something I love.) The scenes with the Ringwraiths are harrowing (a well-placed hoof, a widened eye, the pillows furiously slashed to feathers in the Inn). The scenes where Frodo is wearing the Ring and we see the world of shadows made manifest are downright scary and very effective. The Balrog is incredible, as is the Watcher in the Pool. Effects aside, these actors are the characters they portray. I felt more sympathy for Boromir in his weakness here... and more affection for Gandalf. This is a movie where effects and cgi (as glorious as they are) are subservient to story and character development. Yes, the director made changes. Losing 30 pages of Boromir's tiresome bragging and replacing it with a half moment of tossling Fordo's hair was an excellent and succinct dramatization of his patronizing attitude. In the books, I preferred Faramir to Aragorn and Eowyn to the other ladies (even Galadriel with both power and beauty). It will be interesting to see how they compare in this version. Carolly