The empty weight of a 787-8 is about 260,000 lbs and the total thrust from both engines is about 130,000 lbs.

Any maneuvers that are unnecessary for normal flight are aerobatic maneuvers. That first pitch up looks to be more than 30 degrees. Sure he/she didn't do any immelmans or split S's however I'm sure that plane could have pulled it off. (Johnston cleared that up in a 707 years ago:D)

Interesting definition.

To be more precise:

§ 91.303 Aerobatic flight.
No person may operate an aircraft in aerobatic flight—
(a) Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement;
(b) Over an open air assembly of persons;
(c) Within the lateral boundaries of the surface areas of Class B, Class C, Class D, or Class E airspace designated for an airport;
(d) Within 4 nautical miles of the center line of any Federal airway;
(e) Below an altitude of 1,500 feet above the surface; or
(f) When flight visibility is less than 3 statute miles.

For the purposes of this section, aerobatic flight means an intentional maneuver involving an abrupt change in an aircraft's attitude, an abnormal attitude, or abnormal acceleration, not necessary for normal flight.

That's my point, they were not flexing when you would expect it under load.

Watch the actual air show demo. Nose attitude is about half the animation.

What animation are you referring to?

Which is okay if it's in waivered airspace ... like you get when practicing for or performing at an air show.

Also, some of this seems to be from the distortion caused by a telephoto lens ... it makes things appear more compressed, or in this case, possibly more nose high than they actually are.

It's real, sailing. It was filmed at Moses Lake.

It's real. The camera angle from the helicopter for the take off shot makes it look a lot steeper than it actually was. Roughly almost 30 degrees nose up. light fuel weight and no interior. Also to address the 'lack' of wing flex, watch the outboard ailerons up-rig during the 60 degree bank to help keep them 'down'.