True, but it’s nonetheless pretty normal for a pokémon line with high-cost evolutions. In dragonite’s case, it’s simply that dragonite represents the adult form of the line, whereas both dratini and dragonair are the larval stages.
Putting it another way, many lines whose stages look vastly different (remoraid and octillery, venonat and venomoth, magikarp and gyarados, and so forth) are often two-stage lines because the larval or basic stage can achieve the energy and power needed for evolution without much trouble. Dragonite needs an immense amount of power to evolve, so it needs to pass through an intermediary stage before it can reach its adult. Consequently, the evolution from dratini to dragonair uses a minimal amount of energy, which means it ends up strongly resembling its basic stage, rather than a cross between dratini and dragonite.
The Pokédex According to Bill 