I thought it was a huge disappointment, most of all due to the CG.
- Everything looks hueless, often with only a few colors, with weird light angles and enemies often shown as a blur. As if it was made to put everyone on the same level as those who are colorblind and visiually impaired.
- Soundtrack was a dissonance of what went on on screen.
- The towns and villages were beautifully animated and showed wide shots of them, so one could be sure that they were missing any signs of food production or water sources.
- The world did not just look dry in color, but also literally dry. Especially the shire which gives it a plastic feel to it.
All of those put together made me feel it was taking place on a pre-dinosaur earth or not yet fully terraformed planet Mars, rather than a place of fantasy and wonder.
And Saruman's death was absent in the theatrical cut. One of the most important parts of the story was simply cut out.
No it doesn't.
Since at the very least the dollar sign replacement is older than twitter.
And it was done by people who compared the company to nazi Germany.