This feels as if Julian Fellowes turned in the script for an 8-hour series, but was told by the producers to go away and shrink it down to a 2-hour movie, but to lose none of the plot elements.
It never gives any of the major parts of the story, or any of the potential couplings, or the newly-discovered skills of our main characters, a real chance to be seen to grow.
The new high-profile supporting cast members - in England or France - aren't given enough backstory or chance for us to understand their characters fully.
Of course the cast are brilliant, the locations amazing, the banter as sharp as ever.
However I feel this whole story would have been so much better as a series. As a film I think it fails.
It never gives any of the major parts of the story, or any of the potential couplings, or the newly-discovered skills of our main characters, a real chance to be seen to grow.
The new high-profile supporting cast members - in England or France - aren't given enough backstory or chance for us to understand their characters fully.
Of course the cast are brilliant, the locations amazing, the banter as sharp as ever.
However I feel this whole story would have been so much better as a series. As a film I think it fails.