I think Micheal Gambon is ok, but Richard Harris was better. So sad that he died...

I agree. This new guy, in my opinion, isn't half as good. I miss Richard Harris! *sniff*

I agree. I liked the previous Dumbledore, because he really did play the part well. The Dumbledore I saw was wise and you just can FEEL him being so authoritative even if he's not hostile or mean. Exactly like the real Dumbledore.

Gambon is all right, but he's just too...I don't know. As the movie went along, I just completely forgot about Dumbledore. When he did come in at the end, I was like "Ohhhhhhhh right! Dumbledore's the headmaster..." None of that should be happening as someone's watching the movie. Sorry, just my thoughts =\

Richard Harris was so perfect as Dumbledore. He played him and looked just like I always though Dumbledore would be like! I wish he hadn't died. I almost cried when I heard! The new is okay, since we do have to have someone new, but he'll never be the Dumbledore that Richard Harris was.

Richard Harris seemed nicer too as Dumbleore. I don't know how to xplain it else.

I agree with everyone. Gambon is ok but Harris was excellent.

i think Micheal Gambon talked to fast to be DD i mean Harris looked the part much better but there is nothing we can do about it

I think Gambon is a better Dumbledore but Harris was also very good Dumbledore and it is extremely sad that he died. (Excuse the run-on sentence.)

I miss Richard Harris! waaaaaaaaaaaaah! I think the new guy is NOT GOOD but that's just my opinion.

I don't like the new Dumbledore at all. I think the guy who plays the old wizard in lord of the rings really should have played the part. I miss Richard Harris

Yeah, Ian McKellen was my first choice too, actually....when I heard that Richard Harris had died. But I think he was too involved with LOTR at the time, so he wouldn't have been able to do the role anyway...I'm sure I might have read something somewhere about that......but it was ages ago.....and my memory is like a sieve....

Actually, you know, when I first saw Michael Gambon in the role, I thought that he played Dumbledore a bit closer to the books than Richard Harris did. DD is meant to be a bit natty, isn't he? Richard Harris was far too wise and respectable in the role.....I always imagined DD as a bit of an aging hippy really, and that's exactly how Michael Gambon played him, IMHO.....

THats weird I thought Richard Harris was perfect. Oh well

Everyone has a different opinion!

And wow, I thought I was, like, one of very few people who thought that Micheal Gambon was better!

Not that I'm not sad about Harris dying...

Yeah...I agree. Exactly what I was thinking. I'm getting used to Michael Gambon a bit more now....although I still miss Richard Harris and the gentle wisdom he brought to the role....

**sigh** Such a tragic loss....he was such a lovely man....wonderful sense of humour and he was a real hellraiser in his day......

Any of you guys ever listened to MacArthur Park? He sung that, ya know.....

And you really should see him in The Cassandra Crossing - brilliant film, even though it is a little dated now....

gambon doesn't seem to have that special charm that harris had as dumbledore.

i think that they were both great as dumbledore

that guy Ian whats his face said he didnt like HP though. He said he likes playing a Real Wizard. I think he is a jerk for that.

MOD Edit: No netspeak please. Your post has been edited.

I hope no one gets mad at me for saying this but, yes I do
agree that they both were good at playing DD. I also imagined DD as a funny, a weird type of personlike in the books, he seems very odd. I think that Gambion did a good job capturing that. But I do think the Richard was a good DD!

Personally, I think Michael Gambon plays a better Dumbledore than Richard Harris. Don't get me wrong, I think it's extremely sad that Harris died and I have the upmost respect for him. But I think Gambon played Dumbledore in that sort of weird, hippie-ish way that he was intended to be. I'm not saying one is a better actor than the other, I just think Gambon was a better Dumbledore.

i think that richard harris did a better job he just seemed more like dumbledore especially in the first movie at the end when he's explaining to harry about how proffesor quirrel couldn't touch him 'cause of love that was great and showed dumbledore's kind and caring side but micheal gambon showed dumbledore's mysterious and cautious side which made him seem ilke a different person.. but both did an exceptional job of playing dumbledore and i hope micheal gambon does a better job in GOF

R.I.P. Richard Harris

I liked Richard Harris better than Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, but not because of the way Gambon played the role. They are both excellent actors and both had the potential to do a great job with the part; if anyone is to be blamed for my declining opinion of Dumbledore in the third movie compared to the first two, it would have to be Steve Kloves. I didn't particularly care for the "Prisoner of Azkaban" script as a whole. I understand that Cuaron allowed the plot to be more fragmented than Columbus did previously, and I can accept (though I am not thrilled with it) that Cuaron's objective with the third film was less to re-create the book than to draw attention to the most important and action-packed scenes and to entertain an audience predominantly already familiar with the basic plotline. What I do not understand, however, is that Kloves seems to have substituted some of the best lines of the book with bits of cliché wisdom. Why did he have to give Dumbledore lines like "happiness can be found in the darkest of times if you only remember to turn on the light" when J.K. Rowling has already provided us with an entire novel filled with much more profound advice? In my opinion, no actor, Richard Harris included, would have been able to play Dumbledore's role to its best potential when limited by such a script.

I agree completely, Anthony Goldstein. The real reason why I liked Richard Harris better as Dumbledore was because of the script. With the Prisoner of Azkaban script, Dumbledore's "wisdom" just wasn't...wise. Dumbledore says enough in the book that could have been used, but no - instead, we have people finding happiness by turning on lights. Personally, I think that Richard Harris was only better than Michael Gambon because of the script.

I really liked Richard Harris, he was such a good actor n' person. I'm not sayin' the new one ( I forgot h's name ) it's not, but when I saw it, it was like dumbledore took a freeday n' had spend it in a spa, they look sooooooooo different!

I don't know if this seems a bit superficial, but upon hearing Michael Gambon's voice, I knew right away that it was not Richard Harris. His voice just threw me off because it didn't sound like an elder filled with wisdom and youth. He just sounded to mediocre for my tastes.

I remember nothing of the lines because it's been a while since I've watched the movies.

Also, I just didn't feel that stage presence Richard Harris had when Gambon was on the spotlight. I just vaguely remembering the scene in PoA where he welcomes everybody back to Hogwarts at the dinner and he did a good job, don't get me wrong, but Richard Harris just makes me feel all those emotions that you would feel if you were actually having a conversation with Dumbledore.

But all in all, I still approve of Michael Gambon. And he has just enough experience as Richard Harris. After all, Gambon was born only ten years after Harris.

R.I.P. Richard Harris

Michael Gambon is an extremely gifted actor, but I have to agree that I think he was let down by the script. It wasn't so much the 'turn on the light' speech as that terribly cheesy, gut-wrenchingly cliched, sugary, completely awful bit in the hall about, 'let him soar above the highest clouds, for in dreams..' something or other.....**groan** Talk about stink-o-rama......Oh my god, if I'd read that in a fanfic, I'd have immeditely gone on to read something else. I was thinking while I watched the movie, 'He actually got paid for writing this?' Honestly, I've read fanfics that have done a far better job and those poor guys never get any recognition.

I don't know if any of you guys would know Michael Aldridge...he played the old professor in the BBC version of 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.' It's got to be about 15 years old or more now....but he was also in Last of The Summer Wine (a BBC sitcom) for a while...and I was watching an old episode of that the other day and I thought that he would have been an absolutely perfect Dumbledore. Anyone who's seen the Narnia thing will know what I mean...he had the wisdom and that certain air that made Richard Harris so great.

I just hope they do a better job on the script for GoF.......

Yes, I remember making a fool of myself at the cinema by absolutely squealing when he made the 'let the boy dream' speech. It wasn't that it was bad acting it was just a really really sucky line. Also, he didn't have anything really pleasant to say. I suppose that was keeping in with the darker theme. They gave a lot of his lines to Remus. Not complaining though *winks* In general. The the character of Dumbledore in the movie was badly written. (That's my opinion. If you think otherwise I won't fight you over it!)

Dana and Kreacher, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I can't remember the specific lines in that speech, something like "when we dream we go into a world entirely of our own... Let him swim in the deepest ocean or fly above the highest cloud...!" Good grief! That line made me cringe -- my sister and I have been making fun of that little scene for quite some time now. We also thought that most of Dumbledore's good lines from the book were given to Lupin, particularly at the end of the movie. In the book, Dumbledore was the one who gave Harry the talk about the importance of saving innocent lives (I can't remember the exact passage, I haven't gotten the DVD yet), but in the movie, it was Lupin who gave Harry the same spiel while packing to leave Hogwarts. I think that some of Dumbledore's good lines were given to Sirius as well, if I remember correctly. *sigh* Let's hope the new screenwriter does a better job...

What you gotta remember though is that Jkr will of read the script before letting it get aired and what not so obviously what they said cant be off much importance or she would of made sure it would have been said line for line…do u get my point…do I have a point…who cares I hates the last movie anyways!! (No offence to the director. cough cough)

Ooh, you'd better thank your lucky stars that Ash isn't around to hear you dissing PoA....

Seriously though, the script, overall, I was fairly happy with....it's that line that bugged me really. Maybe it was the way he delivered it, or the way Cuaron wanted him to deliver it...I keep trying to imagine how Richard Harris would have done it and somehow, it doesn't sound so bad then.....I dunno....

And while JKR undoubtedly has an input into the script, I don't know whether that influence extends to the minutiae of the particular parts she likes or doesn't like. I mean, the woman is so busy anyway, I doubt she has the time for such scrutiny. Maybe she just has a quick look to see the overall direction of the script, the scenes which are given most weight, the overall content of the thing itself rather than each line....I find it hard to believe that a talented writer like her would ever let such cheese slip through as that dream speech.....

Now that I've watched my oh so wonderful PoA DvD ( ), I've realized that Dumbledore is funnier than he was before - there's more of a boyish charm in him. Michael Gambon played the part of an elderly youthful man well: at times he was serious, but often times he was playful.

I remember the scene where Hermione and Harry are running back to the hospital doors to get there on time, and Dumbledore is just closing it. And Gambon ends up playing stupid when Hermione asks how the plan went ("What plan?") It sent something of that sort.

But the beginning, where Dumbledore welcomes the students and he made a whole speech. It ended with a speech about the "lights going out" and he blew out a candle, then revived it again with his hands. That's nice, but where is the extremely clever line that is funny yet serious?

And I love where Dumbledore stalls Fudge and Macnair while Buckbeak was being released. (Good ol' Dumbledore always comes through)

Aside from a couple of "not-so-satisfying lines", I loved Dumbledore - even if he didn't have Richard Harris' speaking voice.

I think the new Dumbledore was horrible! He was to jovial and springy! He had grey hair and not white. I think the hair color ruined it for me!

I agree with you guys that Iam McKellen was my first pick once Harris died. But I'd imagine he is tired of playing wizards (he's so good at it though!) I thought Harris had more the classical wizard look but Gambon brought the quirkier side to DD. I really liked that side, but I agree that he didn't seem wise. He had no real commanding presence around him, if that makes sense.

Now I have seen my DVD *grumble Australian strike grumble* I have to say I was a little unfair to Michael Gambon.

He as Dumbledore was a little more quirky and exciting. But he isn't able to hold an audience like the way Richard Harris did. Michael didn't seem wise or all-knowing as Dumbledore was commonly renowned for.

He was an excellent Dumbledore but I think that the script let him down. As well perhaps as his accent. (only a tiny bit)

I thought that the present Dumbledore was boring... Hear me out... when you listen to Richard Harris, you can feel the warmth and magic just blazing out of him, you can see Dumbledore staring out of his eyes, he was an excellent Dumbledore, i just wished he didn't die... at least not now. If he was in the 3rd movie, he would've lighten up the dark spirits! Micheal Gambon -however you spell it- wasn't a good Dumbledore... he should've followed the steps of Richard, at least some of it, i read in an article that he took his own way of Dumbledore, and that was why he was 'ugh'
Dumbledore is a very important thing in Harry's life at the moment and he drove it straight to the ground.
I know many of you will disagree but my opinion is my opinion!
Peace
SlytherinRuler

P.S. kreacher_the_house_elf, it might've been the script, so hum..??

As mentioned before, each actor sort of represented the different sides of Dumbledore, and I think that is fantastic. And if you were to combine them, the result would be amazing.

You guys have to give the man respect for his giant leap as he played Dumbledore in the way that he saw him, and that takes quite a lot of bravery when one has critics to endure.

I miss Richard Harris, and I know he was a brilliant Dumbledore, but so is Michael. Thank you.

I think Richard Harris was a much better Dumbledore than Micheal Gambon,
Micheal talk tooo fast, and sorta gave a preshure on the wrong words(hope I spelled preshure right:S) Richard had this inner warmth and the dumbledore impression with a glimt in the eye, like it's written in the books. Micheal don't have this.
this is my opinion offcourse.

The new Dumbledore doesn't look as old. He is more lively because he is younger and is able to move faster. But Richard Harris was how I pictured Dumbledore to look like in the books, so they both have advantages.

I found it a little hard to accept the new Dumbledore (Michael) because I had gotten used to the old. (Richard) I dearly adored Richard's version of Dd because, as others have said here, he brought a lot of warmth to the character. He made a brilliant father figure to Harry, and although he lacked the oddities of our beloved 'Jk book version' Dd, (the original) he was extrememly likaeble.

Having said that though, I find now when I am re-reading the books, I always picture Michael not Richard as Dd. I think that in my mind, the way he played Dd fits in better with my interpretation of the character than the way Richard played him. (though I must stress that I am very fond of Richards Dd and am very sad that he passed away, unable to see the series through)

Michael's beard and hair are perhaps not as literal to the books as Richards, but that is likely a decision he has little to do with. And I have found that it doesn't really bother me anymore. I like Michaels undrstanding of the unusualness about Dd. He brings a rich mix of oddness and wisdom to Dd that makes it easier for me to understand Dd's humanity, instead of him always being painted as almost 'devine'. He is after all human, and as we have seen in latter books, he does make mistakes.

I think the old dumbledore was alot better than the new one. too bad he died.

i think Michael Gambon was a great dumbledore, but i do think that Richard Harris was more ummm, i cant find the word, well dumbledore like.

The dumbledore from HP1 and 2 was (or seemed) older, his voice was nicer, plus his beard rocked, the new one from HP3 has like, a brownsih bear and he is much more "live" lol, the first one played the role of dumbledore way better, too bad he died yeah...

the thing i like the most about dumbledoor is his words of wisdom....those words are really to be considered in everydays life.....i don`t think that it makes a very big difference betwen the D in 1 and 2 and 3

I've been thinking a bit more about it, and I think the one thing the new Dd can bring to the movies that the old Dd would have really struggled with, is Dd strength.

It never really came into play in the books, or the movies, until GOF, when we suddenly see for the first time how 'formidable' Dd can be.

He displayed a physical strength that, in a man of his age was quite remarkable. (I remember Harry noticing it as Dd lifted him from the grass)

And he also showed his emotional strength when he stupified the fake Moody as he was about to AK Harry. (again Harry sees this in Dd - a look more terrible than he could have imagined, no twinkle in his eyes, cold fury, a power radiating from him)

I really think Michael will be able to step into this side of Dd more easily than Richard. I don't think we will be disappointed with Michael in GOF.

Richard Harris was the best Dumbledore, he looks much more wise, and looks as he was descripted in the book. Whenever I read the books I think of him as Dumbledore. The new Dumbledore is alright, but he just doesn't bring the feeling that you'd be safe around him lol. The new Dumbledore reminds me of Aberforth, that would of been the role for Michael Gambon if Richard Harris didn't die.

To me Richard Harris was a far better Dumbledore than Micheal, he fits the portrait of Dumbledore much better. For me its the new clothes that the new Dumbledore wears. In the books its describes DD's robes as scarlet, or ruby or other dignified coulours. Now DD wears raggy old robes that look like they have lost their color from beign washed too many times. I dont like it as much as I liked the robes Richard wore in the first too.

I still greatly respect Micheal alot! He is a great actor.

Am I the only one that has seen Dumbledore in the trailers. HES HORRIBLE! hes supposed to be calm relaxed, weird, not screaming HARRY POTTER! when harrys name comes outr of the goblet, and also he doesnt grab harry and start harrasing him about putting his name in, in the book hes jsut the opposite, calm composed..

I do happen to agree with you, but it's too late to do anything about it. I can't see them changing Dumbledore again, that would do more damage than good.

It would be kind of weird to switch again, but Dumbledore is one of the most important characters in the book and they are butchering him. I dont even mind the actor who plays him so much, but give him some funny lines to say, and just change his mean attitude to a jokign oen and he'll be fine