Not sure how, but if you look up 888-333 - his/her avatar still moves.
OK I found a setting to switch animated avatars back on - I am not sure if it will restore lost animations. They may need to be re-uploaded...
I think I have backups of all the old avatars but no simple way to match them to users which isn't too helpful.
Edit: Actually I can track them down with some detective work but its a bit time consuming
Thanks GR. I'm much happier about the revamp now.
Man, you got old real quick.