Does the look of the DKC series match the gameplay?

[Zero Kirby]

Nintendo doesn't really seem to understand the character that Rare reimagined Donkey Kong to be, as simple as it might seem, as they choose to hardily give him motivation at all while homogenizing him in there special Nintendo way and giving him the worst voice ever.

... Donkey Kong never really had much motivation beyond "I want that/they took my stuff/they're blowing up my home" and that continues in the new DKC games so... I mean, he's a gorilla. I don't know what kind of motivation he needs.

His new voice isn't as great as Grant Kirkhope's though. It was cheesy but delightfully so. "HEY YEEEEAAAAHHH COOOOOOOOOOL OH-KEYH"

There's more to motivation than the simple objective behind it. Like uh in dkc you don't just see the character angry and ready for action, he's pretty genuinely disappointed looking when you go into the banana hoard and sees it empty.  Not in a comically exaggerated way either (at least intentionally from how it comes off).  Even if the characters an animal, he's still a personified animal and little touches like that make it seem like the objective actually hold some weight beyond its literal interpretation

also I'd say the new voice seems ignorant to the point of being distracting as to what might resonate with audiences but I guess that's pretty subjective

I see what you mean. But they still get across DK's emotions in the newer DKC games. He has different reactions to the various boss fellows as he encounters them and is visibly upset when he sees his banana hoard stolen or has his birthday party ruined. I haven't played any of the inbetween games like Jungle Beat so maybe they didn't really do that great a job in those games, but Retro's done good with the character and series.