Stylized doesn't neccessarily have to mean cartoony though.I think this is relative what they want to show ...it come from autors and the idea itself ... an realist mario would not be carismatic, a cartoony god of war wouldn't look that epic and stuff (random examples)
for myself I'm more for stylised, make everything have more personality and looks unic
Indeed, Mario games would not be the same if they were realistic, they would be completely different games.
But stylized games mean more freedom for the graphics artists to do what they feel is right for the game, and I believe that there are styles to suit every game, that aren't necessarily realistic.
You don't have to look farther than the Zelda series to get an idea of how much room for variation there is within "stylized" graphics. All of the games have had completely different visual styles, some more cartoony, some more realistic. I have to say that Zelda U is looking gorgeous though. No game with realistic graphics could ever look that stunning.