The animation is absolute eye candy. It's incredible how much detail is put into it, yet constant movement is preserved well. Truly the best of its time.
One notable thing about this movie is the surprisingly graphic violence. The violence in SDF Macross never really surpassed PG levels, but here we see humans and Zentradi getting ripped to shreds and crushed onscreen. I don't really mind it, especially for the Zentradi as we're reminded that they are organic people like us and don't always conveniently disappear when their mech gets torn apart.
The music is great. They really improved on the tracks from SDF Macross, which feel a lot "fuller" and grander. And the new songs are the best I've heard from Macross yet. They aged a lot better than most of the songs from SDF Macross, and the title song deserves every single bit of its popularity and praise.
The world within the Macross looks much better than it did in SDF Macross. It really reminds you that they're living on board a tacky yet cool alien ship rather than the city in the TV series which you could almost mistake for a typical town on Earth in a few parts.
However, overall I'd say SDF Macross stomps this into the dirt. I simply prefer the plot and its progression, pacing flaws and all, from the TV series over what I saw in this movie.
And then there is the inevitable material that couldn't be included due to the medium of film itself. The plot of the first 4 episodes of SDF Macross was an awesome fast-paced whirlwind and really helped me get into the series, but was understandably skipped out here. DYRL just starts out in the middle of things, so it may be bewildering to anyone who didn't watch SDF Macross. Not to mention the TV series' awesomely comprehensive and conclusive epilogue. I'm not saying these should have been included in DYRL, that's unreasonable, but I'm pointing them out as huge strengths of SDF Macross that shouldn't be missed.
It's just personal, but I wasn't fond of how male and female Zentradi were at war with each other rather than simply segregated allies. I also thought they made some of the Zentradis' character designs overly alien and ugly. I don't mind this for fictional aliens, but Zentradi are essentially human so it's actually preferable for them to look a lot like us. And holy cow, Exedol! The poor guy got a head tumor.
To conclude, I'd only recommend the most desperate people who want to hurry up and get to Ranka and Sheryl to skip out on SDF Macross and zoom though DYRL. As far as I heard, DYRL only retconned character and fighter plane designs while the story from SDF Macross is canon. And for the most part, I prefer it that way.