Hey, I realize I'm just butting my head into this collab thread even though I'm not participating, but I have been looking at this thing over the months. That being said I really dig what you have going there, and the colour of that first shot is much better in the later update, much darker tones. As for the smoke, you do only see it for a short time but I agree in the fact that it is a little too sporadic. Just add a few extra frames and it should smooth out. Smoke is one of the hardest things to capture in animation, just remember it's smooth and organic in it's movement, not like it's source -fire- which IS sporadic and also a huge pain to animate =D
Anyways great job and good luck