The problem with using the opening shot of the fighters to convey meaning of friendship is that the characters flying the fighters have not been introduced yet in the film. You just have as spectacle first.
While the stunt flying is little more than eye candy, I thought the banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin showed, at the very least, a camaraderie, if not a friendship.
It did that, but that was them actually being semi-tolerable to each other, rather than sarcastic or dismissive. I honestly wish the initial cut of ROTS had been made available, as much of it occurred on Grievous ship, and would have involved more of that banter.
The novel also knew what to leave out, like the entire crash sequence. IIRC it pretty much goes from "we're crashing!" to "phew, that was a thrilling and visually exciting crash we just survived!" in the space of a paragraph. That said, for the purposes of the movie I think that opening sequence is long enough as it is. Adding more scenes of Anakin & Obi-Wan bumbling around, running down metal corridors and wading through fuel tanks would have been extraneous and frankly, boring.