I've actually found the animations helpful even thought was initially skeptical: Because it visualises the vim motions it makes it much clearer what is happening. Especially if you make a mistake you'll see it much more clearly what it actually did. Also when making longer cursor jumps it is easier to see where it went.

I'm sure they will help a lot also when learning Vim for the first time.

But the be fair, the default animations are bit much but they can be toned down.