I'll just leave him to cry over some pixelated animals.
lol
Well, the entire game is pixels. That doesn't mean you feel nothing when you play it (I hope). How do you feel about movies? Those are pixelated too

I think the OP's main point (other than getting a little personal with you) is that some of the sad scenes involving animals feel pointless to him, and they serve no purpose in the story.
I think the point is that it's a cruel world full of tragedy, where sad things just happen, and there isn't always a reason - exactly what happens in reality. There isn't much you can do about a sad orphaned bear cub, and that's precisely the point. There isn't much you can do about someone else pointlessly killing a cute kitten. That's the point. But it's not just animals - humans and other species also get killed in the game for no good reason.
I think the writers aim to evoke certain emotions, and to stimulate your senses, which IMO they've done effectively for the most part. It's a very 'grown-up' game, much more so than the first one.