I remember tuning into the Simpsons for the stories, not the jokes (though I found them funnier as I got older). The older seasons had alot of great tales that I could rewatch over and over again. The quality declined somewhere around in the late '90s and early '00s so I tuned out eventually.
It's been a couple of years since i've seen the newer stuff, but I last I saw I thought it turned into a shell of its former self. Trying SO HARD to be funny and always falling flat on its face. The movie is a great example of that. It could've had a great story sprinkled with jokes here and there, but the whole thing was just a big unfunny mess. I remember no one laughing in the theater, like at all. I reminded me alot like Family Guy which is what I think they were trying to copy.