The long wait for the Downton Abbey movie is nearly over now, as creator Julian Fellowes has reunited many favorites from the series — Carson and Hughes, Bates and Anna, and of course, the shade queen Dowager Countess — to refurbish Downton for a royal visit from King George V and Queen Mary.
So what are the critics saying about Downton Abbey, the movie? Here is a sampling:
TheWrap: “Downton Abbey gently demands acquiescence to its comfort mission, and will keep getting away with it for as many sequels as Julian Fellowes feels like writing.”
The Guardian: “This standalone movie special is based on the smash-hit telenovela of picturesque Brit poshness, Downton Abbey – all about the interwar aristos with problems that go well beyond as anything as déclassé as ‘first world' – and this film is like the most intensely glucose and sometimes baffling Christmas special.”
The Hollywood Reporter: Downton is “satisfyingly sumptuous” and its reviewer praised Dame Maggie's performance in particular, saying she was given “a chance to pull some of her most beloved haughty expressions of indignation and bemusement.”
The Telegraph: “Upscaling the cozy charms of the series hasn't entirely worked, in that you couldn't say this comfortably belongs in a cinema at any stage. Watching it is like settling into a reupholstered armchair which still creaks in the same old places.”
BBC: “The film is delightful fun, even though the plot is obvious almost to the point of stupidity, and there are few surprises for the well-known characters, some of whom are handed unnecessary subplots to give everyone some screen time.”
Variety: “Those who love the Crawleys will find things to love here, from Mary’s insouciance, unchanged by the years, to the pleasant coziness of moments in the village surrounding Downton Abbey. But for some viewers who watched the show with an increasing sense of its fundamental coolness towards the idea of progress, its creepy-Crawley sense that to hope for or work for a more equitable world was not to know one’s role, this journey to the past may end up feeling ultimately less nostalgic than backward-looking.”
Empire: “Gentle, unchallenging drama for people who already know they like it, this is a nostalgic and rosy depiction of an England that was, surely, never so innocent.”
The Daily Mail: “There's absolutely no point seeing it if you don't already know who all these people are. If you do, how can you possibly resist?”
I know I will be seeing Downton Abbey. Check out more photos from the London premiere below:
