As a compromise on the Flash animation, you could do an 'animate once' scenario where an animation happens when you visit the site and then it stops, landing on a final image
I don't think black is a very good colour to use in large areas. It's a bit depressing. I think the whole site would be lifted if you used a tone which is in harmony with the rest of the colours. It is made worse when the flyout menus operate. Also that blue surrounding the site could be lightened a little, to me it looks old fashioned (reminds me of pantone reflex blue, yuk!). The blue in the shopping cart table headers looks a better bet, even a lighter 'shade' of that blue for the surrounding area.
My wife who's a graphic designer just walked into the office and she likes the black but agrees with me on the blue. I still think the black looks bad but hey, I'm not a designer!
cheers,
Mike