LOTR...Blah

Ten hours!
I just spent two nights, which equaled ten frealing hours watching Lord of the Rings. Why?
I saw the cartoon when I was a kid and no sir didnt like it.
It thou, has become a cultural thing since the making of the liveaction version. Everyone and their dog seems to be drooling over this story. So after everyone and their dog giving me the evil eye for not having seen it, I borrowed my sister's copies of the films.
After the first 15minutes my hand was itching on the fast forward button, but no I continued to watch. I don't remember half of what was infront of my eyes. I kept coming back in my mind to the crappy cartoon version I saw 20something years ago. All I could think was "the dude from the Goonies got fat." That was until the dude from the Matrix came on screen, then all I could think was "Mr. Anderson, we've been expecting you." (now I want to watch the Matrix great.)
And of course that Christopher Lee always plays the bad guy. Don't think I have ever seen him play the hero? I just don't see what everyone and their dog is so hot about Lord of the Rings? It's just another war story.
And for those who love it, live it, and speak it, great. I have no problems with you. Just saying, I didn't like it.