De gustibus non dispudandum est -- for my part I hated the cartoon version. It might help in understanding LOTR, but (IMHO) reading the books does even more.
But what do I know, I read them all in the early-mid 60s, at the beginning of their "discovery." OTOH, though Peter Jackson has taken liberties with the text of LOTR I would rate his work high among the books fairly faithfully converted from text to film -- and sometimes, to my poor imagination, in aspects even elevated. (I would never have thought to portray the Rohirrim along such a -jarring- Norwegian theme; but it worked well!)
And finally I can lay to rest the awful memories of the wretched and fortunately incomplete Bakshi effort... Thank you, Peter Jackson! Now please do "The Hobbit."
(And when you're done with that, how about the "Narnia" series to scotch the mess Disney is likely to make of those?)
YES! I'm afraid Peter Jackson might not find enough truly vile imagery in the Narnia series to appeal to his taste for the horror genre though.