Once the disruption of how the Ents look was gone, I enjoyed the movie from beginning to end. I can already predict a couple of places where the Extended Edition edits will make things a little more clear, but while I'd sit through a six-hour edit if Peter Jackson created one, I understand the need for a three-hour running time.
The transformation of Theodyn was awe-inspiring, still. The appearance of the White Wizard to the three seekers worked well, with Gimli's axe reappearing in his hand and Aragorn's sword appearing to dissolve but appearing whole on the ground after he dropped it. Very nice touches.
There was (I think) much more humor in this film than the last. Even as Smeagol debates with Gollum over what to do, the writers manage to get a few chuckles out of an otherwise intense scene, without (I think) minimizing the intensity.
The scenes with Faromir are too short, or too shallow. Probably a victim of editing-for-time, Faromir deserves a little more depth, and I hope he'll get it in added footage on DVD.
I've been asked by a few people about the plot changes, and I've not really given much of an answer. For my part, I think I mostly like them. The extremely minor changes, like having one Ent stick his "head" under water to put out the fire instead of burning to ash, are obviously harmless. The more major changes, like how the Ents get involved in the war, or the whole Arwen subplot, I've chosen not to let bother me. A movie is different from a book, and these movies are different from those books. Perhaps the writers played with things to reflect the current political climate. Is that so bad?
I know that many say that Tolkien deliberately did not base the books on then-current events, but I don't agree. I know that he cautioned people not to read too much into them in terms of allegory, but that is a different thing altogether from not putting any allegory into them to begin with. Is Lord of the Rings about the dangers of the industrial revolution? Yes. Could it just as easily be about something else? Yes. Could it be just about an evil wizard who chops down trees to drive furnaces to manufacture weapons for an army or Uruk-Hai? Yes. The answer is "D," or "All of the above."
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