Deviating a lot from the original story, well, its fundamental elements, it's definitely going to stir up a lot of criticism. Heck, a lot of people loved the 1998 version. And then you go ahead to the things that made them really love the movie; the music and the lovable characters.
But then, I do agree with their intention. I mean, we already have the story, and we know exactly how it went. To then have the same exact story and everything but in a live movie is, well, the same just that it's played by real actors. That's okay, considering that they'll be 22 years apart. But then, it would be nice to see some element, which we actually all love, to be expounded upon; the action.
The action was always bound to excite the audience, so to do it with modern techniques and implementation was probably the idea they intended to follow.
I totally agree with your points on them removing the main characters. That's probably a little off the main line. It really would have been really great to see Li Shang in the live adaptation.
The movie may have been a little too serious, but that didn't pull it away from being enjoyable and worth the time. I loved it.
@olujay That's right, remakes mean precisely that: remake (a movie) adapting it to modern actions (in this case, with real actors). And taking Disney's clarifications, I agree with many of their changes; perhaps the "deviation" was slight, but enough to draw some criticism. And yet, as I said at the end of the post, I loved it too. A hug!
A hug for you too man!