There are pretty pages without much content, and informative pages without much or any graphics. But the most successful seem to be those who succeed in both. Try to strike a balance between making your page visually appealing and content rich. Users might come for the view, but will stay for what they can get out of the page.
And remember: animated graphics can be a nice addition to your site, but don't overdo it! If your site is busy with motion, this can turn a surfer off, and distracts from the content of your site. Plus, animated graphics make for bigger file sizes.