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Rantings of a Fantasy & Sci-Fi Whore
Grant

Many people have been writing articles about how Peter Jackson is changing the Rings Trilogy too much in his screenplay adaptation, and that he is casting actors/actresses who will not portray their favorite characters as well as they deserve to be portrayed. To these people, I say ... YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THE MOVIE YET. Love it or hate it on its own merits, instead of pre-judging it.

As far as I have seen, any details about how Arwen's role has been 'expanded' are only rumors at this point, especially the parts about her being a sort of "warrior-princess". I will admit, I have not really been impressed with Liv Tyler in any of her movies which I have seen. But she is young, and a lot depends on the director and/or the script. As PlayBumSp1 pointed out, Star Wars was great even with (mostly) mediocre actors.  Peter Jackson is a LOTR fan too, so have a little faith.

For the most part, I am impressed with the caliber of actors who are in this LOTR trilogy. I cannot think of an actor better suited to play to play Frodo than Elijah Wood; and from all reports, Ian McKellan's Gandalf is nothing short of amazing. So I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to PJ and his casting directors concerning their judgement of which actors will fit certain roles.

I have been a fan of fantasy and science fiction since I was very young -- both books AND movies. I call myself a Fantasy/Sci-Fi Whore, because even if a movie looks like it might be terrible, I will probably still see it -- because I love those genres so much. This has led to a number of disappointments over the years. But I keep trying, and hoping. I have always tried to maintain what they call a "Suspension of Disbelief" when I see these movies, all the way from Sinbad (my first fantasy movies) to more recent movies like The Matrix. This means I tried to immerse myself in the movie, ignoring small and (to me) unimportant inconsistencies, and concentrating on enjoying the movie as a whole. As a little boy, I was totally willing to believe that those were real leprechauns in 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People'.  As an adult, I am willing to wait until the 'Fellowship Of The Ring' comes out before I decide whether I like the necessary changes done to bring the story to the big screen. 

So to those purists who will not accept anything but a perfect LOTR adaptation -- feel free to raise sufficient money to allow your complete version of LOTR to be made. When you do, I will probably see that too. (I said I'd see just about anything, didn't I?) But I don't expect it to be as good as the Peter Jackson version.  I've seen his movies; I've never seen one with your names in the credits.