Is it possible to get blender to find the missing blender files like it finds missing image files so that i can preserve the previously made animation?
Yes, totally. Go to "File > External Data > Find missing files". You can navigate to specific folders if you know where you put your files. as blender searches sub-directories you can even say: "Hey blender, my file is somewhere in here, just look for yourself" on your documents folder.
On a side note is there a way to also view a list of all the missing files?
Yes. There is. "File > External Data > Report missing files" prints all missing files to the console (in the default layout you can all down the menu on the top to see the console's content.)
