Animation software?

Short of having to hand draw thousands of images, and an all out cad rendering program like studio max, is there any software out there that is used for creating animation? Want to create some stuff that could be used on a dvd or played on a dvd player, so I think that eliminates flash animation. This whole question may not even make sense because I am not a programer, but I hope someone understands what im trying to ask ... THANKS FOR ANY INFO