Not only did it largely respect the books, they invested an astronomical amount of effort into things other filmmakers call minute details, such as making real

Not only did it largely respect the books, they invested an astronomical amount of effort into things other filmmakers call minute details, such as making real chainmail instead of the 3d printed garbage used in the Amazon series. Or sending gardeners to the Shire years before shooting even started, to plant the hedges... End result is that everything looks convincing and most scenes in the movies aged very well.