I've spent the last few months following the "Starting Strength" plan (http://startingstrength.com/) with the idea of getting in good enough shape to do crossfit.
It's easy to feel self-conscious and unwelcome. Half the people in my on-ramp classes were in stellar shape already, and at least two of them were professional personal trainers who were interested in eventually becoming instructors. There were times when I was sure nobody else wanted me there, and I kept going just out of sheer bloody-mindedness, with a kind of "fuck 'em, I don't care, I'm going anyway" attitude. In retrospect, it was all in my mind. I never minded any of the people who were in worse shape than me. You won't be in anybody's way. And I would have said all that to someone who hadn't been doing "Starting Strength" for a few months, so it goes triple for you.
Most Crossfit affiliates have an on-ramp program that will get you, no matter where you're starting, to the point where you can participate in full workouts.
If anything, I'd look into barbell complexes as a way to prepare for Crossfit.
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_trai...
Check out the Cosgrove Evil 8, it's one of my all time favorites.
CrossFit encourages you to work fast because intensity is correlated with power and results. Power -- what we want to build a capacity for -- is simply work over time. Results come more quickly to intense training because the body has shown to adapt faster to (relatively) intense stimuli. crossfit.com is covered in references for the interested.
Form is a key part of these movements, but learning a proper squat or clean is the endeavor of a lifetime. No one is perfect at significant load here. CrossFit teaches a balance of these elements that maximizes fitness in the athletes. Injury due to improper form or overtraining is contrary to what CrossFit wants to achieve.
Some people take things too far. Some people not far enough. CrossFit simply wants you to push your relative limits each time you do a WOD. That is how you get better. You're never going to be a great race car driver taking practice laps at 30mph.
There is more to say, but I'd challenge you to find a good affiliate and try it out. Experience is a grand teacher.
I'm CrossFit certified.
The better your form, the more you can safely lift, and the more you can lift, the higher the work rate you can achieve. That's the logic that drives the Crossfit trainers I've worked with. Crossfit isn't consistent from location to location, though, so what you say may be true.