Also, just in the "for what it's worth" department, the human face is an extremely complex mechanism. A lot of people (I can objectively - based on scientific research - make this following statement) especially men aren't very good at reading faces. Therefore I'd say how can one depict what one can't see (the subtle nuances in facial expressions)? I see things in the motion of many of the animations that I've seen here that are, to me, unnatural. I see them over and over. However, I know that I'm trained to see them. Most aren't. I'm not defending "vacant stares" - I'm just trying to offer perspective on why there may be so many.

Before they made me they broke the mold!
http://home.roadrunner.com/~kflach/