It only leaves them generic if the players don't have the wherewithal to give their characters depth beyond "rawr i r shepsheeftur". If you can establish some parameters for each type that are immutable and leave the rest in player hands, that can be a great source of RP when it comes to two shapeshifters that do the same thing discussing and debating why each think they are right, or comparing and contrasting their beliefs, trying to suss out the truth.
I don't find the layout too difficult. I would prefer the colors be swappable, but otherwise, whatever.
Might be fun to let the players decide what sort of belief their characters take up; i.e. some werebears might think that, others might believe they descend from native American shamans, etc.
That should be plenty of variation. I'm honestly more interested in what the origins of each species is going to be like. Often, the lack of purpose is what made the Changing Breeds so insipid. If it's going to be just a Changing Breeds game, you might want the different breeds/types to have different types of origins, too. Just a thought.
Yes and no, in my opinion. The reason should be really good? In general, though, I tend to want variety even without the animal element, just because variety in types of setting also foments more variety in the RP.
I'd suggest a place with as many topographical variations as possible; especially if you're allowing wildly different animals who are from different types of geography.