I’ve been rewatching the Harry Potter movies over the past few weeks in the anticipation of the final film this month. And although I’ve thought it before, I figure it’s time to voice my disappointment at the casting of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. He’s a pale comparison to the wizard imagined in the first two films by Richard Harris.
If you read the books (and you almost definitely have), Dumbledore is a joyful father figure to Harry. Mysterious, wise and powerful, he’s also extremely eccentric and and generous. Somehow, Gambon turns him into an angry, fearful headmaster who seemingly has no connection to Harry in any way.
It comes to a point in The Order of The Phoenix, when Dumbledore explains to Harry why he hadn’t told him about he prophecy that dictated that Harry would have to kill Voldemort or vice versa. In the book, Dumbledore gives an impassioned speech, laced with regret and sadness. He argues – convincingly – that he didn’t tell Harry about the prophecy because he wanted Harry to enjoy as much happiness and success as he could as a child, and before he knew it, the years had passed. After everything Harry has been through in the books, after all the two had shared, he calms Harry’s anger and opens up with a teenage boy who’s just lost his Godfather.
Yet the movies tell a different story. the only connection you see between Dumbledore and Harry in the 3rd, 4th and 5th films are angry, near violent situations. When Harry’s name appears out of the Goblet of Fire, Gambon’s Dumbledore actually physically assaults Harry in a wave of anger.
So how then are we expected to believe him when he tells Harry in Order of The Phoenix, flat and emotionless, that he didn’t tell Harry about the prophecy because he “cares about him too much.”
It’s the biggest disappointments of the films for me. When all the other casting is so spot on in all the films – Maggie Smith is the perfect McGonogall, Alan Rickman nails Snape, Gary Oldman is the perfect Sirius – not to mention Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort – and yet Dumbledore feels as if he’s stumbling his way through a character who doesn’t fit the films.
Even his appearance – admittedly the fault of wardrobe and not Gambon himself – fails to live up to the Dumbledore of the books (and the first two films).
In a series of films well loved around the world, it’s frustrating that such a weak point has been allowed to run through the majority of the films.
Then again, maybe it’s just me?
