I've seen it twice now (both Wednesday and Thursday with different friends) and I loved it. The scenery and action are great. I tried to pay more attention to the music the during the second viewing and the score is excellent.
I wasn't too wild about the very beginning with the history of the ring. Sauron looks like something from Power Rangers, and the valiant little soldiers look a little corny when they first walk on.
I also, didn't mind the Arwen role too much, partially because my memory of that part of the story is a little vague. It's strange that they didn't call the old watch tower Weathertop (it's name in the book), but the LotR website has pictures of it labelled as such.
The computer graphics throughout the movie are amazing. Gollum, though not seen much in this movie, is completely computer generated, and the use of blue screens to shrink the hobbits is seamless. I think my favorite parts were the swooping camera shots of Isengard and the quarries. The Mines of Moria were great too with the forest of columns and little orcs all over the place. Lothlorien was beautiful, too, but they didn't spend enough time there.
Overall, it was an excellent movie, I hope it gets the Golden Globe for all the categories that it's in: Best Movie (Drama), Best Director, Best Musical Score and Best Original Song. I'm not really surprised that no one was nominated for Best Actor/Actress because none really stand out as a major lead.
