We explored how people perceived animations created by artificial intelligence (AI)-driven motion capture, manual keyframe technique, and AI-driven motion capture with manual cleanup methods. We presented our participants with short, full-body animation clips created using the three methods. Participants rated the appeal and naturalness of the animations, and we asked them to discern the creation method. Results revealed differences in perceived appeal and naturalness between manually created animations and those generated through AI-based methods, with manual animations consistently rated higher in appeal and naturalness. However, participants could not discern creation methods regardless of animation experience level, demonstrating an accuracy equivalent to random guessing. The qualitative analysis highlighted diverse perspectives with negative and positive views on AI use, with the most mentioned theme being the importance of quality regardless of creation method. The overwhelming majority of participants asserted that the degree of automatization would influence participants’ perceived value and effort put into an animation. Still, this group did not show divergent ratings, nor did it affect their overall agreeableness towards using AI in creative fields. This study contributes insights into the intersection of animation and AI, informing creators about the effect of different creation methods on audience perceptions.