Even the pre-loader
The whole thing stinks of effort. Quite inspiring really. You see, after turning 18 yesterday, I finally acquired Flash 8 and a graphics tablet. It's going to be a step up from my work with Photoshop, and I'm hoping that maybe someday I'll reach your level of work. But as I can see from this piece, that's a long way off...
Now, need I say much about this? Totally polished animation, fluid and focused on attention to detail, with seamless integration of lighting and shadow effects to bring the animated characters to life in a real environment.
I feel this animation might be a tad underrated, but then I remind myself this is mainly to show off your skills, and perhaps the general audience wanted a longer, more developed story. I'm sure you could create something with more substance and humour if required, and the character development was decent for the short in any case.
The difference between this creation and your older, sillier animations is staggering. I'm glad all this effort paid off for you. Excellent work.