Nice effort!
I've read the other reviews and know you want to stick to characters you already know and 'make them better'.
I'd advice you, however, to refrain from 'intense close ups'. Sprite Characters aren't made to be viewed up so close you can't make out any details anymore.
Sprites were specifically designed to look incredibly detailed FROM A DISTANCE, on a SNES. Keep this in mind when making a flash movie aimed at mostly Video Game Enthousiasts in 2009. (!)
Other than that, I hope your method of storytelling is pretty amazing, because there's a LOT of sprite based emerald story things to roll with.
You're going to have to be pretty awesome when it comes to the little details here!