The mystery, heart, soul, and emotion that the original and HD version had is totally gone. The character models are odd as well.

The world in Bluepoint's version is stunning, but to me, it just can't touch the original.

I would guess your case is similar to original Silent Hill that had the fog to hide the shortcoming of draw distance, that if removed with remaster would ruin the game for most. At least seeing the scenes you selected that is what I see different, the texture and asset quality made things more clear and perhaps that impacted the art direction perception to you?

Astro's Playroom
Demon's Souls Remastered
Spider-Man Remastered
Spider-Man Miles morales
Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Borderlands 3
Bugsnax
Dead by Daylight
Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition
Dirt 5
Godfall
Goonya Fighter
King Oddball
Maneater
NBA2k21
No Man's Sky
Observer: System Redux
Overcooked! All You Can Eat
The Pathless
Planet Coaster
Warhammer: Chaosbane Slayer
WatchDogs Legion
WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship

With a list like that, I'm genuinely curious how anyone could claim the launch is poor. Granted, some of those games are just PS4 upgrades, but between the exclusives and the multiplats...it's a really, really good list. Demon's Souls and Spider-Man for me. I'm also weirdly excited for Astro-bot, if only to try out all the new controller features.

Because quality trumps quantity.

List has nice variation but nothing earth shattering. Especially since many are on the ps4.

Quality trumps quality, yes...and this list has both. It has a sizeable, respectable number of games, some of them are great, most of them are good. Spider-Man and Astro's playroom are 85 and 82 respectively, Demon's Souls is likely to get great reviews, and While it might be a stretch to assume Sackboy will do well, it'll likely do mid to high 70's, which is good for what it is. 

You can't say this is a bad launch unless you're weirdly super specific about what you like or are just trying to downplay it. If you don't like it, that's fine. I hate Call of Duty. I'm not going to pretend it's not a good game or a great addition to the launch lineup. same with Assassin's Creed and Watch-Dogs, they're not for me, but they're still good games. 

But I can understand he not being excited since most can be played on PS4, so he may not really feel the urge to go PS5 even with all the improvements.

The list is good, it isn't a poor list, but it isn't a great list either (IMHO).  Frankly the only ps5 game I want on the list is a remaster via Demon.  Personally I see the ps5 launch as average/typical/standard.  I'm not disappointed nor am I impressed.  It doesn't help that the majority of your list are ps4 games.    

Have a look at Wander's expressions in the original, compared to the emotionless doll he is in the remaster. It's just one tiny thing, but takes away a lot. In the original, he was panicked and under constant stress and strain. Understandable, considering that he's battling giant monsters. In the remaster it's just another day on the job.

The one thing that the remaster can never replicate is the mystery that the original had. People spent years going through every nook and cranny. Digging up unused areas, beta Colossi, and special weapons and items. No other game in history had what the original Colossus had.

Can't say I fully notice the expressions on the original, but certainly will agree that the remaster do lack facial animations and is certainly a lot more static than the original in these two gifs comparison you sent.

Unfortunately the air of mystery is lost once you finish the game for the first time and you can't ever have the same feeling again =[ even playing the original, the only difference is that through nostalgia you kinda have that feeling burning in inside when you play the original.

Launch Trailer: Demon Souls Remake