Yes, even with all of that, I thought the films were very entertaining.
As Jackson himself said, they had to condense characters, switch certain roles, in order to get the movies to work with an acceptable time limit.
And I think you’re wrong about Tolkien not allowing the films to be made: he sold the rights for a film version in 1968 or 1969 depending on what source you read and would have had little or no ability to stop a film treatment - especially since he died 5 years later.
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/United_Artists
Did you ever read Letter 210?
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Letter_210
Yes, Tolkien did sell filming rights-—but that does not imply that he would have approved of the final result, as evidenced in letter 210.
“As Jackson himself said:”
“Sure, it’s not really THE LORD OF THE RINGS ... but it could still be a pretty damn cool movie.” —Peter Jackson
Taken from:
http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/Resources.html
and
http://www.theonering.com/page3-25/TheMoviesTheCompleteListofFilmChanges