A bit behind the times with this as we have been away on holiday, but agree with many others that the Colin Firth/ Jennifer Ehle P&P was beautifully done ... a best friend and I discovered by default that we had both ruined our video copies (c.1996) by pausing too often at the wet shirt scene ha ha ha!
However, I won't be 'writing off' the new version before I see it. I empathise with the OP over the seemingly endless 'drive to improve' and tbh I don't expect it to replace the Colin Firth version of Mr D in my affections, but it will be interesting to see - if only to have a good moan afterwards .
I recently saw an Old Vic production of Jane Eyre where St John Rivers was played by a female. There were evidently enough male cast members to have covered the role so no doubt some clever feminist / artistic point was being made, but it simply distracted my attention from the storyline and therefore irritated me.
#practisinggrumpynannyskills