Not at all. Those "bells and whistles" you decry have negligible impact its ease of use, as it's been designed such that the extras (due dates, priorities, projects, etc) are only there if/when you actually want to use them.

Otherwise it's just "task add something", "task list", "task done something".

And if you do find yourself wanting to use those "bells and whistles", they're just a man page away.