“a movie series that's as good as the source material”

Is it? I loved LOTR during my first watch, then many years later actually read the books and tried watching it again. Many of the changes that Jackson made in service of commercial, mass-market appeal were downright silly, if not cringe-worthy, to the point where I actually had to stop my rewatch after the first film.

The films don’t hold a candle to the books, though I appreciate that they got me into LOTR in the first place.