Just finished rewatching the extended version (digital versions already on my bedtime iPod Touch) with my younger son (born around time these came out) and I must say: 1) Blu Ray is worth it because it all looked fantastic; and 2) this series really is a classic that holds up very well and really shouldn't ever become outdated. What Peter Jackson et. al did with the books' characters reminds me of the liberties Alan Ball has taken with the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (third season just started is fabulous): moving bits and pieces around to make for a better movie storytelling.
Just a lot of fun for us this past week.
Zack Snyder is an acquired taste, obviously, but his work says interesting things about the future of movies as the Millennials come into their own as consumers. Previous work showed the deep influence of video games on the look and the action, but this movie really shows the impact on storytelling with its levels of narrative/meaning. Fun to see Scott Glenn (who looks more like Leonard Nimoy by the day and should still be used as a Vulcan in a future ST movie) and especially nice to see Jena Malone from "Contact" all grown up and still getting work. She's a really sharp actress. Great soundtrack too. According to my eldest, the extended cut is a decidedly different and much improved movie.