The future paleontologist reconstruction makes hippos look as dangerous as they really are in real life.
Hippos are a living definition of "Looks like a cinnamon roll, ABSOLUTELY WILL ACTUALLY KILL YOU".
Dinosaurs were reconstructed based of modern reptiles, so dinosaurs have bony lizard faces because they are based on crocodiles and similar reptiles. If you want to reconstruct a mammal from the bones you surely have to consider the fact that modern mammals have different chubbier features
They should be using birds not crocodiles but the OP is correct, there have been advances in reconstruction techniques as well as new fossil finds that show previous attempts were generally poor.
That’s part of the process. As we find out more fossils and new evidence, we understand a bit better how these animals worked and looked like.
This is not the link I was looking for but it also shows some revisions we did throughout the years:
https://nixillustration.com/category/theme-months/retro-vs-modern/
The paleontologist reconstruction does better match the deadliness of a hippo, much more so than real life does.
I'm sure someone will chime in with more reason but I find this interesting. At first glance the skull looks mega alien. However I bet good paleontologist (good ones at least) compare characteristics between ancient and recent age bones. Then they can sorta make out what the creature prob looked like. The difficulty is coming across a creature that has nothing to compare to or is very alien to the creatures in the region you found it.
Like this?
It doesn't look any less terrifying with lips.. I mean until you imagine it giving you a kiss like a good boy