Thanks! I spent two weeks on this one when I was between jobs. I was completely inspired by the story, the music, the idea and just sat down and did this. I forget who said "An artwork is never finished, just abandoned" Very much the case here.
I haven't used any free ones, so I can't really recommend any from experience. I could ask around. I've heard of Blender for 3D stuff. I've also heard it's okay. Anime Studio is ridiculously cheap though considering what it can do.
I'm in a group called The Smartians [link] . The music is by my very talented mate Haszari [link] with narration by his wife. I spent two weeks animating this a few months ago. I could have spent two years on it if I had that kind of time. This was really just a warm up. The plan is to create more of this kind of thing in the future with our own original stories, characters and music. Something cool for the kids. The story is by Margaret Mahy [link] and is a kiwi classic.
this is great.
But the whole concept is really cute too!