This installment of the trilogy is a greater achievement than the first because it was so much harder to do. It's the middle of a story, and I don't think we have another film to compare it to. The fact that most viewers accept where it "starts" and where it "ends" is just amazing. I have read the trilogy several times, and I have to point out to those who quibble about the departures from the text that "The Wizard of Oz" takes infinitely greater liberties with its text, and who mentions that as a flaw in the movie? The movie works, Jackson's a genius, and hopefully by spring 2004 the academy will have figured out some way to honor this unprecedented piece of moviemaking.
