I maintain that Lord of the Rings is by far the best book to live action fantasy adaptation, not Game of Thrones.
Well it isn't weighed down by a crappy Dorne arc . . . . Seriously GoT is seriously wounded by the quality drop after the third book and the passing around of the idiot ball by otherwise intelligent characters. The TV series is also hurt by the fact they're outrunning their source material and their writers aren't as good as Martin (as demonstrated by their even worse Dorne arc). Jackson's adaptation of the Lord of the Rings was pretty damn good. There's things i didn't like, by my nitpicking powers are superhuman.
Oh ye younglings, I guess you weren't on the internet back in 2001-2003, because there was a LOT of very upset tolkien fans.
Tom Bombadil, Arwen, elves at Helms Deep, the ruining of Saruman, and the %#%*-up of the ROTK end battle at the gate ... I don't agree with those complaints, but I'm just scratching the surface of fan outrage.
So why don't we get past the "my anecdotal evidence of GOT love/hate is better that your anecdotal evidence", and concentrate on a PON adaption.
Back to PoN: As a compromise on the animation issue, how would folks feel about CG? Think Beowulf.
Not much better than animated, really. The biggest issue with an 2D or 3D animated version of PON would be the characters. So many strong characters and their interactions (far more of that than action), and how do you portray for example Kellhus reading faces? In live action you at least have the benefit of skilled actors doing "acting", but in CG or 2D animation, that not really an avenue you can use.