Is the deform a nurbs deform,or a vertex deform? Can you bake the deform in, or, if its an animation, ensure its a skinned animation and not a per vertex / frame animation (ie, the model has bones, joints, joint weights and animates by moving the joints, rather than swapping out sets of geometry?)
Also, try removing the light and the camera? I dont know blender at all, so im unsure how I can help, but post the file too, maybe?