Jungle Beat is an arcade-like platformer with an emphasis on stringing combos to get the highest score possible while the DKC games focus more on exploration with finding Bonus Barrels and tokens. Whichever one is "better" depends on your preferences.
As for the lack of Kremlings so far, I understand the concern. They're so iconic to fans of the DKCs. I don't mind seeing a new villain, and sometimes I wish the Mario series would play around with the villains more. But I usually see the introduction of a new threat in series that have been going on for a while to freshen things up, not in something like DKC that hasn't been around for a while. At the same time, these Tikis can be an interesting threat, so I'm a bit mixed on the subject. It be nice if K. Rool at least made a cameo appearance.