This kind of critique grates on me because, besides it being a lazy way to dismiss any incarnation that's "too different" from the original source, it's not even true in this show. It's still the same premise. Adora's character arc is still the same. There's enough similarities to successfully make it a revamp of the old series. And honestly, change from the source is downright NECESSARY for adaptations. You need to have a new hook to convince people to give your take on a franchise a shot. You need to have some freedom with the premise. You need a certain degree of freedom to work in that series. It's even necessary in cases like Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters, where the base property barely has any content to adapt from in the first place.
There's also the fact that original IPs or even adaptations of obscure material have a smaller opportunity for success. Shows like Kulipari, Niko and the Sword of Light, The Dragon Prince, or the Tales of Arcadia trilogy don't get the recognition they deserve because they're not from big IPs. Hell, you could argue the latter two even got the recognition they did because they were made by people with well-known previous work. It's a miracle Hilda succeeded as much as it did.
Netflix may give more leeway than cable networks, but it still has ways to go. The crew from Voltron had to fight with Dreamworks to even allow them to hint that Shiro is gay and had a fiance.