I'm only about a third of the way through the second book at the moment, but I think I largely agree.

I LOVE the fact that LIU made an effort to make the Trisolarans distinctly non-humanoid. But at the same time, the thought of seeing CGI blobs on the screen, communicating through some kind of holographic projections of their thoughts, that could get embarrassingly corny, really fast.

Also, I definitely needed all the footnotes to explain the cultural and historical references, many of which are crucial to the story. It would take some really good writers to balance all that without the explanations seeming ham fisted and contrived.