purist claptrap i say!
this is the whole free-running-is-not-parkour 'debate' [yawn]
the original definition of parkour is so limiting that i don't believe anyone other than belle can really be considered to have ever been a traceur - and these days, belle doesn't perform pk either.
videos of parkour would be boring as its just somone running (unless they actually had the lion chasing them in it too

) - even that old vid of belle back in the woods had somersaults in it
you say "parkour is to get from one place to another in the most efficient way possible. (thou not necessarily the most effficient route.)"
which is not only somewhat of a contradiction, its backwards - its *all* about the route.
the vaults and jumps are just used to stop you having to run around an object or find some stairs.
ben aoues said: “The most important thing really is the harmony between you and the obstacle; the movement has to be elegant, that's what will make it prettier. Length and distance only add to the beauty of the move, if you manage to pass over the fence elegantly that's beautiful, rather than saying ‘I jumped the lot.’ What's the point in that?”
that doesn't sound like the purist "its only parkour if i'm pretending to be running away from a lion" standpoint to me...
even seb foucan uses 'parkour' and 'free running' interchangably - his philosophy on the whole artform is far more universal than belle's and he seems to prefer to manifest different aspects of parkour depending on what he wishes to achieve at any one particular time.
anyway, just about every video i have seen with david belle, most of them produced years back, have some kind of flip in them - i challenge you to find me a david belle video that doesn't have any unnecessary movement in it whatsoever.
i reckon this is a case of someone trying to hold onto their claim to a movement style and deny any evolution of it unless they instigate that evolution - its sad:
david belle does 'parkour' - everyone else does 'free running'.
micheal moshecn does 'dynamic manipulation' - everyone else does 'contact juggling'.
its semantics and at the end of the day, you are technically correct meg.
but i am totally happy to disagree with belle and say that parkour has evolved beyond his original definition, and much of the reason for that evolution is his own blurring of the lines when performing parkour.
besides, how many lions do you get chasing you around cities these days anyway?!
cole. x