Are there really people who interpret it another way?

Just watch the LOTR trilogy, extended edition or not doesn’t really matter for a first viewing (I personally find The Two Towers lags along a bit in the middle of the extended version, but that could just be the fatigue of doing the marathon 10 times or so).

If you’re a reader, read the Hobbit, then the trilogy, then the Silmarillion then whatever else you want out of the legendarium.

Hobbit movies are pretty bad, the book is way better.