Let's face it 90% of the Architectural Animations produced so far have been non-emotional and sterile. It is only recently that some have started to break the mold. I still see a lot of work consisting of the 360 fly around and the one shot walk through. It's not their fault that this is how the perceive our work, it is ours. Nils, they were not talking about your work when they said this.
If you look again I think you'll see a bit of a "hats off". I'm sure going in they thought it would be easy, just build a model and render it, but they were apparently introduced to the challenges we face working on evolving designs.
I agree with most of the critiques, but overall it has a pretty good feel and some parts are impressive. I am sure that if it came from one of our own we would be applauding it.
What I think is great and has been touched on is that it is being accepted that a emotional, artistic piece can sell and has value. To put Sony's name on Arch Viz can only be good publicity and with our efficient pipelines, those able to produce this kind of output are in a very good place.