I agree. The Tolkien estate had it written in its contract with Jackson to do the movies (the entire quadrology - The Hobbit and LOTR) as true to the books as possible, to which he did an excellent job.

I watched 'Fellowship' with my daughter and her mother (my ex-wife) and through the first half it I was commenting "He got it right" so much that both she and her mom kept telling me to shut up!