You mention Tolkein's writing style, further down, and I think that a lot of us spend so much time criticising the bad aspects that we forget to give credit for the really good bits.

That's very true. I mean, these books are so revered that it's *healthy* for people to be scrutinising the flaws - but like you said, sometimes we lose sight of why they became so revered in the first place.

I dislike the Galadriel effects *so* much that I hadn't even thought about the overly-dramatic aspect. I agree there too, but I mostly just think the effects look dreadful and in five years everyone will realise that.

I think I was also disappointed that they didn't give Cate Blanchett a chance to *act* the scene. But yeah, I'd agree that the effects do look pretty awful.