the extended edition is clearly for the lotr nerds. multiple scenes that are probably unnecessary to drive the story forward, but keep the movie closer to the book
the costumes and set absolutely still hold up
there are a few pieces of cgi that look a bit goofy now (watcher in the water) but it also mostly holds up
if you were to only watch one of the movies, i’d watch this one. you don’t see frodo and sam continue on towards mordor, but it’s able to evoke some of the emotions the overall story is going for: homesickness, reluctant obligations, duty, and sacrifice.