Has he seen the Rankin-Bass RotK cartoon? I bet he'd like it:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005MP5D/104-0511053-4658307?v=glance
The other day he informed me that he liked the Bakshi film (shudder) better than the Jackson film. The only reason I can find is that it is possibly because one is cartoon, and the other is not.
Hmm--I'd have to think about how I would have evaluated the two films at that age. I think if you're a kid and haven't read the book, Bakshi is very entertaining. He actually did a good job with certain scenes, notably the scene with the Black Riders in the Shire, which Jackson actually drew from in developing his version of that scene. As a kid I think that scene and Moria were what hooked me--Bakshi did those parts well enough that I was entertained despite the various other stuff he screwed up. I guess Tolkien is so good that no matter how bad you screw up adapting him there's still something there :)