When it comes to Donkey Kong..

[curl-6]

TheLastStarFighter said:
 The modern DKC's have gone too cartoony for my liking, too many modern Nintendo games. The realistic look separated DK from Mario. I liked that.

Stylistically, Retro simply continued the visual trend Rare's trilogy had already started; DKC1 was semi-realistic, DKC2 was a bit more cartoony, DKC3 even more, then DKCR and TF are even more again, thsu staying true to the trajectory set for the series's visuals on SNES.