I'm going to be hung for this...
I don't like Legolas too much. I thought he was bland, both book and movie wise. Tolkien and Jackson both use him to explain the situation. I liked Gimli for his off the wall "Dwarf-humor" and Aragorn is in all ways, Humanity perfected.
Legolas's stunts are neat, and his archery is impossible to deny, but as a character he isn't all shiny (unless you are a fangirl). He is the most overexaggerated character in the movies, as Tolkien actually thought Legolas achived the least out of the entire Fellowship. (if you look at the other Eight, you'll see they all did things more unworldly to their races, other than Gandalf, who actually set the stage, Legolas was more the "Elvish Representation").
The movie defines an Elf as an otherworldy being almost, and to Men (us) that is how they should seem. And his age is nowhere stated by Tolkien, Orlando Bloom picked a number!
He's also directionally challenged in the Two Towers.
"The Uruks turn Northeast! They are taking the Hobbits to Isengard!"
If you've looked at a map of Middle Earth, the Uruks should have turned Northwest, or else they'd be heading toward Aragorn and Co.
Legolas is cool, and Gimli and Aragorn would have been lost without him of course, but I prefer the other two over him.
*hides from rabid fangirls*
