Animation Software

I have a question for you.
First I'm going to tell you what I would like to do. Now I was planning to do this for a while, but haven't even got around to start it. I would like to make a cartoon animation, and be able to draw something and assign movements to it. Now my question is: what software(other than Flash) is out there that is able to do that? Can you guys recommend something easy to work with or at least clue me in with some names? Please, and thank you.^_^