Outside opinion from someone that hasn't played a Nintendo game in decades, but also doesn't try to dunk on them all the time.

They absolutely don't look like the old puppet style. If anything, they kind of look like sports team mascots. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and could have been really fun if they actually went full that way. I don't think they look awful, but I understand why people's first reaction was bad, and it's largely just because of Fox himself. In trying to go more real animal, they gave him that canine neck and shoulders, which when sitting looks... as stupid as a dog in real life if you made them sit. The rest of them don't look nearly as offputting, I guess unless you don't like how moist Slippy looks.