I saw the Two Towers, liked it except for the racism and counter-intuitive-bordering-on-idiotic-but-distracting-at-best changes to the plot and that goofy dwarf. I'll let other people's posts speak to both issues:
Baraita: "All the characters except Aragorn are supposed to be idiots?"
Golublog: "the Two Towers, which was basically a three hour long George Lucas smack down."
(via Laughingmeme.org)
How was The Two Towers racist? Or at least, how was it any more racist than the books (one problem with fantasy in general is that generally all of the 'races' are still all-white. another is that races almost always have innate racial characteristics including an innate 'goodness' or 'evilness' typical of 19th century thought)?
The changes were horrible, much worse than the stuff cut out of the first film. Even my dad, who had never read the books and does not generally like fantasy, asked if the Arwen stuff was added to make it more romantic.
The movie was definitely *less* racist than the books, but racist nonetheless. The Uruk-Hai dreadlocks were unnecessary, as well as the middle eastern-style army.
More:
http://film.guardian.co.uk/lordoftherings/news/0,11016,852217,00.html