Really, it's nothing new for a Zelda game to be divisive. Not since Ocarina of Time has there been a strong consensus in a single direction for an entry in this franchise. Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks - they all have their supporters and their detractors. For this reason, if you are sitting on the fence, my advice is to go ahead with the purchase.
Personally, I'm in the same boat as Neal. Temples are what got me into this series in the first place. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of fun to be had exploring in Zelda games, but that's always been one of the more passive parts of the experiences. The things that get my neurons firing, that gives me the real sense of accomplishment, it's the environmental puzzles. If I think about my favourite kinds of games, the stuff that I like today, I think of action puzzle titles, which is to say, a game in which you traverse the space you are in by manipulating it with tools. Skyward Sword put a greater emphasis on these elements, with creative dungeons and dungeon-like overworlds. In doing so, they sacrificed some of the exploration elements, no doubt about it. If you come to Zelda to explore, then I understand why Skyward Sword wouldn't be your cup of tea. But for my money, it totally nailed the world design, while also making me care about the swordplay, an aspect of Zelda that I'd been indifferent to until now.
And to the conspiracy theorists who believe that journalists were all giving dishonest positive reviews, I really have to question your thought process. Why would they do it? Why would they compromise their journalistic integrity and their professionalism? Why would they deceive their readers? Because Nintendo is so beloved that nobody can say a bad word about them? Hardly. By that logic, I suppose reviews of Portal 2 are bloated because Valve are renowned, and reviews of Uncharted 3 are bloated because Naughty Dog are renowned, and reviews of Elder Scrolls V are bloated because Bethesda are renowned, and any company with a good reputation gets a free pass from the media, regardless of what the reviewers really think. To be frank, that's crazy talk. Look, I get it if you didn't like Skyward Sword, but it is possible for others to say they liked it and have that be their honest opinion. Maybe the issues they discussed did not take away from their enjoyment of the game.