It's odd. The platforming genre hasn't seen much in the way of innovation lately. Super Mario 64 wrote most of the rules of 3D platforming, and just about everything that came after followed those rules rather diligently. But despite this, I think the last couple years have been a renaissance of sorts for the genre.
Ubi Soft seems to aim its humor at veteran gamers who have played dozens of platforming games in their time. It seems to be their way of making up for gameplay that is mostly standard, if well executed, platforming fare.