I wouldn't say that the animation was all that shiny either.  It has some cool showpieces, like all the new Grimm, but everything felt slow and predictable.  Practically nothing was cool, not even the Nuckelavee, which should have been the most badass monster to grace the series.  The only exception for me was the Qrow/Tyrian fight, but even that wasn't good all the time.

The way characters interacted, all stiff and slow with so many pauses, filled a lot of time while accomplishing very little.  Plus, there were some things that just didn't make sense.  For instance, having Ruby and Jaune carry Qrow around the long way while the other two took the 'shortcut' to try and get help faster.  Why not have the two physically strongest characters (Jaune and Nora) carry the [s]dead[/s] weight, while the one with the actual speed semblance goes on ahead?  And the chameleon girl's tiny lance has the same semblance-piercing effect as Adam's blade?  And so on and so forth.