I see it as a character design tool that lets authors play with instinct versus morality. A wolf-man character isn't just a guy with fur; his animal side can push against his human reason in fascinating ways. The tension between pack loyalty and individual conscience, or prey-drive and empathy, creates internal conflict you rarely get with a purely human cast. It's less about the physical mashup and more about using that hybrid state to examine what parts of 'humanity' are learned versus innate.
That said, a lot of the genre leans into the community and identity aspects, which is cool too. For some readers, it's a way to explore a non-human persona safely, a sort of second-self. I don't personally vibe with that side as much, but I get why the space for that exists. My jam is when the animal traits directly inform the plot, like in 'The Bees' where the protagonist's hive-mind conditioning clashes with her growing individuality.