Grickle Hickee's

Speaking of minimized animation that still gets the story across, Graham Annable da Grickle consistently makes creepy feeling shorts, solid pacing, good use of sound, minimal animation.

Kevin Dart & Joel Trussell

I saw Kevin Dart's stuff forever ago on the Drawingboard forums (which may be dead by hackers) had a cool retro look, then he did a little movie trailer in the style, and now has done an upgraded version.

A Kiss From Tokyo - HD from Yuki 7 on Vimeo.

Looks That Kill - HD from Yuki 7 on Vimeo.

Here's a promo by the Yuki 7's codirector Stephane Coedel

BBC OLYMPICS ©2008 Passion Pictures from Stephane coedel on Vimeo.

the stylized after effects look makes me think of Joel Trussell's (blog)stuff:

Morcheeba - Enjoy The Ride from Titus Curare on Vimeo.

all this stuff makes me think of how well you can tell a story even without fancy full animation. Like Grickle & Lou Romano & Will Finn, so make sure you know what you're goal is before you start, if it's just to tell a story consider what you can leave out and still get the idea across.