Gambon as Dumbledore - New Look + Review

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "celticangel1976"
<celticangel at t...> wrote:
> I agree with you Brooke.  While I think Gambon does a fine job in 
> his own right, he's not Dumbledore.  
> 
> There's an innocence (for lack of a better word) to Dumbledore that 
> is missing in this movie.  He's always described as being so sweet 
> and grandfatherly and by looking at him you'd never guess he's the 
> powerful wizard that he is.  I  don't get this at all with Gambon.  
> 
> But I think part of that isn't just the actor, but the new "look" of 
> Dumbledore as well.  Sadly, Harris just WAS Dumbledore for me and 
> Gambon just isn't.
> 
> CelticAngel

bboy_mn:

Richard Harris has a certain natural charisma to him that has carried
him through this acting career. This is also a charisma we would
expect Dumbledore to have, and that allowed Harris to portray
Dumbledore very well.  Regardless of how lightly he plays Dumbledore,
and underlying essense comes through.

One thing I whole heartedly agree on is Gambon/Dumbledore's new look;
atrocious. Dumbedore is an old, wise, and respected wizard who holds
may other promenent and prestigious positions as well has
headmastership of the school. I really don't see him dressing in old
burlap sacks and tying his beard with a rubber band. He looks more
like a scruffy bum of a wizard than a powerful wizard known to and
respected by the entire wizard world. It's hard to maintain an aura of
dignity when every wizard on the street dresses better than he does.

Also, as someone else pointed out, while his speech doesn't come
abnormally fast, it doesn't have that slow reflective quality that
Harris brought to the role. That reflective and introspective quality
is what gives 'whatever actor' a sense of a deep thinker and deep wisdom.

That said, I have no problem with Gambon as Dumbledore, and in the
next movie, the staging and costumes might be different. 

My overal view of the film was that Curon made it much smoother. Time
is compressed reasonably well and the transitions are smoother. With
Columbus, CoS was filled with very quick jump cuts, Curon was smoother
and less jarring. 

I have no problems with the rewrite, all the right things were said to
the right people, even if occassionally by the wrong person (with
regard to the book). But, I am still critical of the lack of scene and
character development. As with all the movies, a few more minutes of
movie would have fleshed it out nicely. It would have provide time to
build a characters motivation, rather than leaving the viewer to
assume it.

The movie is visually wonderful. The countryside of Scotland is breath
taking. The overal color and texture is extremely pleasing.

My main complaint is the same one I had with all the movie, they cut
it short to please the 'bean counters' at the sacrifice of pleasing
the audience and fulfilling the movies potential.

That's all for now.

bboy_mn