Downton Abbey: A New Era Parent Guide

Downton Abbey: A New Era opens with a wedding and closes with a death. In between there is a trip to France, a film shoot on the estate, disclosure of an old romance, a new engagement, and a threat of scandal. Basically, it’s just another day with the Crawley family and their loyal retainers.

Hardcore fans of the Downton Abbey television series will be thrilled to have their favorite characters back on the big screen. After all, who doesn’t want to spend more time with the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith) and her acerbic wit? I have never been able to overcome the soap opera feel of the TV show, but I must admit that watching clips of Lady Grantham skewering her conversational victim can be highly entertaining. Sadly, Violet Crawley is mellowing with age and the movie subsequently lacks the acid it needs to compensate for the large amounts of treacle that clog up the story.

Fans will be more forgiving of the film’s many weaknesses, but casual viewers have no reason to watch this completely pointless production. The movie is beautiful to look at, with scenic vistas and wardrobes that are drop-dead gorgeous. Unfortunately, the plot is tedious, labored, and unconvincing; the dialogue is forced; and the story bounces awkwardly back and forth between the scenes set in England and those set in the south of France. This overstuffed film lumbers across the screen for two hours, but feels much, much longer. I gauge how bad a movie is by how long it takes before I start checking my watch. The worst movies have me checking the time ten minutes in: this one had me clock watching at the thirty-minute mark and roughly every ten minutes thereafter. Frankly, all that held my interest were the swoon-worthy clothes worn by the women in the Crawley family, but that’s not going to appeal to a mass audience.

On the bright side, content issues are mild. There are references to potential illegitimacy and possible extramarital affairs. The homosexuality of the butler, Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier), again becomes a plot point but there is no romantic activity aside from brief, yearning glances and a suggested future relationship. Even alcohol consumption is minimal and restricted to social events; smoking is non-existent, which is a surprise in this era where it was commonplace.

The original Downton Abbey film was a serving of English trifle – light, sweet, and insubstantial. In comparison, Downton Abbey: A New Era, feels like a failed Yorkshire pudding - stodgy, heavy, and flavorless. It is no credit to its cooks and deserves to be sent back to the kitchen.