"Hastened exposition"? OK, but going off of what was shown, there was basically no story except dark creatures called heartless came from "no one knows" and somehow Riku works for Maleficent and wants to go back home. Oh and Sora has the keyblade from the start with no explanation, except that he's "destined to wield it"... yet has it already. Also, the two most egregious things were the music which he had access to all: 1) he wasted "Simple & Clean (Remix)" and 2) he wasted time looking for a generic anime fight song than just use the Agrabah fight theme.
Just because it's a pitch concept doesn't mean that the story being told had to be so messy. It had 11 minutes, but if this wasn't based on a game that we all know, there wouldn't have been anything special about it and honestly very forgettable. So honestly, I can tell why DISNEY executives passed on this. There just wasn't anything special about it that really stood out. The KH1 intro was about 3 minutes long and that catches your attention right off the bat without a single word of exposition.
So I'm sorry if you didn't like my critique, the animation was the least of my concerns with this. And yes, even though I know it was one guy that had to draw everything, that doesn't negate that I think the animation in this is bad. Whether it's a pitch, rushed project, one man drawing with a 10 minute deadline or whatever, that doesn't negate the objective fact that some/most of the drawings are not good. My main problem really was that the magic and mystique of the KH1 story was lost and/or not even captured in this pitch.
If it were me pitching this in 11 minutes, I would have done the following:
A-Plot: Sora on Destiny Islands | B-Plot: Donald and Goofy getting Mickey's instructions to "find the key"
- DISNEY Castle - Donald and Goofy find Mickey's note - emphasis on "finding the key".
- Sora, Riku and Kairi hang out on the island. Sora/Riku fight - build the rivalry.
- Riku expresses his desperation to leave the island. Sora/Kairi show concern that he is too obsessed.
- Riku mentions a rumour of "a door" hidden on the island and leaves. Mentions that he "may have to find a key".
- Donald and Goofy become frantic and rummage all over the castle to prepare. They wonder about where to look first or who might have the key. Donald suggests Traverse Town, as it's a place where "lost things end up", so if the key's lost they can find it there and Goofy can say "like your pants, Donald?" Then Donald throws a fit.
- Sora/Kairi talk about leaving the island together or staying on the island together - but whatever they do, it will be together.
- Riku finds the door and opens it.
- Donald and Goofy look up at the sky. They notice a star flickering. Donald comments that darkness is taking over another world.
- The storm hits the island. Sora goes to make sure Kairi and Riku are safe.
- Sora finds Kairi dazed, then she merges with him. Sora is confused.
- Sora finds Riku - who makes his speech about the door being open. While Sora tries to grab Riku from the darkness, a heartless attacks him, Sora goes to defend himself and the keyblade appears. Riku notices and gets jealous.
- Darkness swallows them both and Destiny Islands.
- Donald and Goofy load up the Gummi Ship - its sensors inform them that another world has been submerged completely by darkness. Goofy wonders who is behind this.
- Cut to: DISNEY villain silhouettes and then pan up Maleficent's body up to just her smirk. The end.