Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Watching this lovely company of actors take their final bows as these beloved characters is a treat, whether the film is perfect or not. This is cinema as comfort food, a cozy blanket for trying times.

This Grand Finale doesn't feel particularly grand; as with the two earlier films, it's a relaxing, undemanding holiday, not only from our time and circumstances, but from any judgements we might have about what we're seeing.

With a profound embrace of the changing times and clever winks at Downton devotees, writer Julian Fellowes and director Simon Curtis deliver a heart-swelling conclusion.

The overarching theme here is not being able to let go of the past – and it applies just as much to the show's own soothing nostalgia as it does to the former staff who can't stop popping back into the kitchen for a cup of tea, or to polish the silver.

The valiant attempt by Curtis and Fellowes is to wrap everything up as pleasantly as possible. And that goal is handsomely accomplished in a perfectly pleasing feature outing.