Personally, I think a lot of people are blowing this out of proportion.
I took a look at the pictures on the
DisneyStore website, and a majority of the makeovers to the characters was addition of sparkles and patterns to their dresses. As a graphic designer, I see why this was done. It adds more interest and attracts the eye to the character as a whole, ultimately adding to revenue.
As far as the facial and hair makeovers, most of the characters haven't changed. However, the worst change by far was Belle. Adding the amount of hair they did detracts from her dress, which, until Tiana arrived, was the most intricate of the princess dresses (not that I'm saying it's not anymore, its just not the only one). Yes they did alter Cinderella's facial structure and hair a little bit, but overall it did not detract from identifying her as Cinerella, which was very important. Actually I found her features a little sharp in various pieces of art and I think the new look softens some of those features. I'm glad they redid Ariel's bangs a bit, I always found her bangs overlarge on her small face. They look proportionate now.
People on here have talked about the over-addition of make up which I don't seem to see. I see a little blush on their cheeks, but that hasn't changed from their past iterations. The other things people are blasting about are their sexualized positions, hips thrusting out and such and the only Character that seems to have the position is Jasmine, which is a position the she has stood in since the movies came out. I found her body unreallistically disproportionate since Aladdin was released (although that didn't stop me from being her for Halloween when I was 8).
Overall, the important thing is that they have not changed the princesses enough to make them less identifiable. As long as they are still identifiable as a brand, they are still guarenteed to bring in merchandise revenue.
Blast me if you like, but I'm just sharing some opinions and views from my view as a graphic designer (with a little bit of makreting thrown in there).