I completely agree with this review.
My wife and I are doing the one-a-day thing - she has this year's calendar and I have last year's, and every day she gets to be reminded that she drew the short straw. Today she got the nondescript bench seat, I got a dragon perched atop Gringott's. The coherent scene idea is fine, but at least make the individual builds HP-themed! I agree that this year's minifigs are great though, and the lamppost and tree are cute. My wife won't be impressed that tomorrow is just another tree though...
I don't understand the disdain for last year's HP calendar - it's fantastic. Almost every day gives me a gleeful chuckle when I see what cute little build they've concocted. My only minor criticism is that they give a massive spoiler on the box for what day 24 will be (at least it looks like it will be great).