This animation

Agreed. Seemed like a pointless waste of time doing that, does not serve the plot in any way... I know people CLAIM it puts the viewer in the perspective of a drug user - or some nonesense, but why? that STILL doesn't serve the STORY at all. The story was fine without the viewer seeing it like a drug user.

Maybe the over-all look of the movie was typical, bland, uninteresting and they thought they could JAZZ IT UP by doing something unique?

I LOVE the plot, but rarely re-watch it because of the pointless animation.

But, I've never used drugs, don't have any need to, so maybe this movie was only created for that crowd??

Stylistic choice by the director. He used it in an earlier film Waking Life, and decided it would fit the subject matter well (which it does). The animation is supposed to envoke a surreal atmosphere for these characters who have all but post tovh with reality. It does not simulate a drug trip or anything like that, just hightens the sense of paranoia and confusion.

Also, the animation was necessary. There are several times in the film where the animation doe serve a purpose in crafting hallucinations, which would look dumb had they used cgi. But an even more important reason for for animation is the suit that Keanu reeves wears, which would have been impossible to create using live footage and would look stupid with cgi.

I like the animation, but it's not for everyone and surely turned a lot of people off from the movie.