The wonderful world of 'Downton': Crawley family takes a French escape in 'A New Era'

Spending time with the well-heeled Crawley family on their sprawling British estate is cinematic comfort food. It’s a glass of wine in a bubble bath, or slipping into your favorite sweater, or a serving of Mrs. Patmore’s bone broth, curing all that ails. Writer-creator Julian Fellowes knows how to take the edge off, so put on a kettle, it’s time for another visit to Yorkshire with “Downton Abby: A New Era.”

As always, Fellowes keeps the story entertaining and engrossing, in part because the characters of “Downton Abbey,” the long-running PBS historical drama spun into a second feature film, are so well-loved and – after 12 years – so well-established. There’s the bon-mot-quipping Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith); icy-but-melting Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery); family patriarch Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) and his American heiress wife, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern); not-so-poor-anymore Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael); starchy butler Carson (Jim Carter); and so many more. Each is eccentric and endearing and vexing in all the best ways.

Directed by Simon Curtis, “A New Era” resumes in the late 1920s, not long after where the first movie ended. The mood is joyous, as the characters gather for the wedding of chauffeur-turned-family-member Tom Branson (Allen Leech), to Crawley cousin Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton). Soon, Lady Violet (Smith) drops news that she’s inherited a villa in the South of France. Most of the Crawley clan – Robert (Bonneville) Cora (McGovern), Edith (Carmichael), Bertie (Harry Hadden-Paton), Tom (Leech), Lucy (Middleton), and servants Carson (Carter), Bates (Brendan Coyle) – sail across the Channel to investigate this mysterious windfall. Turns out the dowager’s past “idyllic interlude” might involve a present-day scandal.

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Back home, drama develops over a movie production that has set up shop at Downton, twisting the knickers of the old-timers. “A moving picture at Downton?” How vulgar. Mary, however, grabs the opportunity to make quick cash to finance mending a leaky roof. She’s also overseeing, working elbow to elbow with the handsome director (Hugh Dancy). Her husband (Matthew Goode) is nowhere in sight. Meanwhile, the downstairs crew – Molesley (Kevin Doyle), Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol), Daisy (Sophie McShera), Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan) – scurry in starstruck glory over the presence of the hunky leading man (Dominic West) and gorgeous starlet (Laura Haddock).

Fellowes sticks to his familiar bag of tricks: matters of the heart, financial crises, health concerns, birth, death, legacy. You’ll laugh as an uptight Carson is all fish-out-of-water frantic, sweating his way around the Mediterranean seashore in a woolen suit. You’ll swoon as Tom and Lucy tie the knot in the opening scenes, filmed with overhead shots of the estate, all lush and expansive, as the franchise’s iconic theme plays.

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As you might surmise, “A New Era” lacks surprises. Scenes are short. Conflicts are crisply solved. No true villain exists. Some plots may be more meaningful than others. But the ensemble cast is clearly happy to be back in their fancy frocks (the servants even get a gussying in one scene), drinking tea in the afternoon and sherry in the evening. Some arcs, such as with butler Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier), feel complete, others could continue. If this is indeed the last hurrah, then the “Downton Abbey” clan goes out amid a cozier, happier air, each with slightly softer stiff upper lips.

'Downton Abbey: A New Era'

Rating: PG for some suggestive references, language and thematic elements

Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Joanne Froggatt, Michael Fox, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Tuppence Middleton, Lesley Nicol, Douglas Reith, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Penelope Wilton, Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, Dominic West and Jonathan Zaccaï

Director: Simon Curtis

Writer: Julian Fellowes

Running time: 125 minutes

Where to watch: In South Shore theaters Wednesday

Grade: B+

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Reach Dana Barbuto at dbarbuto@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 'Downton Abbey A New Era': A French adventure for the Crawley family