I think it sorta works, mostly because I never really bought the original as being particularly authentic of, well, anything. It's a fun party song just begging to be covered on cruise ships for the next 40 years. Astley is a solid pro who clearly never stopped performing and didn't skimp on the arrangement.
The breath pauses are seriously small. I'm thinking there was some editing in the original recording, especially considering Mark Ronson was already a seasoned producer at that point.