The parents weren't focused on for most of the movies, true, but in each movie they were in the very first scenes, implying a big importance to the overall plot. And they were mentioned more than Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter seemed to downright forget about revenging Uncle Ben's death! Thats just bad storytelling.
Theoretically the parents could have been better integrated but why? Just having them be present undermines the role that Aunt May plays in all previous incarnations of the character. Maybe if they just outright replaced Aunt May and Uncle Ben with the parents - but then you really are getting far away from the mythos.
I think the movies were conceived as a love story between Gwen and Peter, ending in her tragic death. And Webb really embraced that, because thats where his strength lies. And that part was done well. But thats a misunderstanding of what Spider-Man is all about. In the final analysis much of the non-romance parts of the films felt like trappings to a love story.