We'll see tonight. The smart money is on Ebert being full of it. When I saw the Fellowship of the Ring movie, I at first felt that Peter Jackson had been less true to the story than he could have been. However, after both reading the series again, as well as seeing the extended version on DVD, I have to say that Jackson did a stellar job. For theatrical audiences, you simply must abbreviate a story of this length. Jackson has managed to condense and adapt without making a complete botch of a movie. This in and of itself deserves credit, but when you consider his creation is to the liking of both Tolkien fans and the average movie-goer alike, you realize just how big of a stunt he pulled off.
He picked out just the right parts and remained amazingly true to the spirit of the book in the short 3 hours that he had.