[BradyLS]

Last I checked, the director has the final word on what is & isn't in the movie.

Not always. Often the producers have the final word. Sometimes even the stars have a say on what gets left in or out.

Neither are director's infallible. I'm sure I would rather have seen Jackson's Saruman Sequence in The Two Towers. The Dream Sequence could have been saved for the Extended DVD.

[Sloth]

What dream sequence do you mean? The only one I remember offhand was Frodo's at the very beginning, but the depiction of Gandalf battling the Balrog was an event that really occurred, so I didn't really think of it as a dream sequence.

I was much more bothered by the fundamental character changes in Faramir & the Ents.