I've read the books and I've seen the films and I would say that for the most part they did a pretty good job of following them, thankfully cutting out a lot of the filler in between. Overall I really like LOTR.
Xhristopher Lee was awesome, among with almost everyone else.
My favorite is Boromir. He was a good man doing everything he could to protect his peoplee (the people of Gondor) but he let the ring get to him and he attacked Frodo. Boromir did prove himself good again after he gave his life trying to defend Merry and Pippin. Sean Bean nailed him, and his death scene just really gets to me *sobs*