Well, I figure if you've already got filterforge, it would be silly to use something less capable. But, pws is a cheaper alternative for those on a budget (though, I'm not sure the savings would be worth the quality loss-that would probably be a personal judgement thing, I guess)

On a side note, does anyone watch Archer? The backgrounds appear, at least in part, to be modified photographs, but blend nicely with the animated figures, IMHO. It might make for easier rendering if you were to separate the figures from the background settings. If you are postworking out the 3D richness, then it's kinda pointless to render in the expensive details. 

Of course, animation and stills are totally different. You can spot inconsistancies much more easily than animation, since you have all the time in the world to study the stills.