The magical world of?Harry Potter?has always managed to charm us in different ways. Even when the movie series ended with?Deathly Hallows Part 2, it is still keeping us hooked with the?Fantastic Beasts?movie series.?
The timeline of?Fantastic Beasts?is such that the characters of??Harry Potter?can appear in them. Our very favorite Albus Dumbledore appeared in the second movie of the?Fantastic Beasts?franchise called the?Crimes of Grindelwald. Now another part of the Fantastic Beasts franchise has been released concentrating on the character of Dumbledore called?Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore.?
If you look closely, you can identify some differences between the young and the old Dumbledore in these two movie franchises. Let¡¯s have a sneak peek at the differences between the young and the old Dumbledore.
At first, when I looked at Jude Law¡¯s Dumbledore, I wasn¡¯t able to relate to it. I couldn¡¯t get that image of Dumbledore in wizard clothes out of my head. I thought this is just some alternate dimension kind of thing but as I watched more parts of Fantastic Beasts and researched about it, I got to know that Dumbledore wasn¡¯t always a fan of wizard clothes.?
The older Dumbledore clearly has a strong fascination with beads and stereotypical wizard clothes. However, the young Dumbledore has more of a sophisticated approach when it comes to dressing. He can be seen in extremely well knitted cut suits that make him look dapper. Young Albus is both aligned with the style of the 1920s and also looks very poised with his fashion sense. However, the long beard of the older Dumbledore covered most of his dressing sense in the?Harry Potter?movie series.
The Ministry has caused some serious hurdles for Dumbledore in?The Crimes of Grindelwald?at Hogwarts to basically force him to confront Grindelwald. However, the young Dumbledore doesn¡¯t seem to be very proficient with words and winning arguments, instead, he can be seen angry at some issues and even doesn¡¯t have many words to argue with others. At times, he just bangs the table in anger and casts a spell. However, the same can¡¯t be said for the Dumbledore in?Harry Potter?films.?
The old Dumbledore is witty with words and can easily make effective points through his conversational skills but in the?Fantastic Beasts,?things seem to be a bit of the opposite. However, the third part of the?Fantastic Beasts?seems to be working on this part but a lot of improvement needs to be made. Special attention needs to be given to the dialogues of Dumbledore in the?Fantastic Beasts?franchise.
Often in Harry Potter movies, Dumbledore is kind of the last person to cast a spell. Old Dumbledore has a great level of power when it comes to magic and he is very careful to execute them unless it¡¯s really needed. However, the young Dumbledore seems to be a bit reckless with his powers right now, be it?Crimes of Grindelwald?or?Secrets of Dumbledore,?the young Albus executes bold and reckless magics.?
Taking the example of?Crimes of Grindelwald,?Dumbledore shrouded a whole city in smog just as a distraction. Whereas in?Secrets of Dumbledore,?the initial face-off between Grindelwald and Dumbledore seems very extravagant, and probably, Dumbledore must have learned this lesson the hard way and the young Albus might become more sensible in the years to come.
No matter how big or small a moment is, the old Dumbledore in the?Harry Potter?franchise appeared to be very convicted and determined in his approach. He used to spread a sense of fear and a figure who needs to be respected immediately in any room. Dumbledore¡¯s manner of speaking was enough for anyone to treat him as a dignified personality. However, the young Albus isn¡¯t like this in the?Fantastic Beasts?franchise.?
He lacks the firmness that the old Dumbledore easily possesses. Once he even had to ask, and sometimes plead to those who faced him to go away or carry the task he had for them. In fact, when in the new?Secrets of Dumbledore, he doubts his own plan of action at times and even asks Newt to believe his instincts, rather than portraying a personality who is believed by everyone easily without any effort.
At first, when I saw Dumbledore, ?I imagined him to be the over-achiever of the class who got so good that he became the principal of Hogwarts later in life. No matter how big of a fan we are of Dumbledore and his powers, we all have to agree that he has a mixture of sardonic and soft behavior. And this combination made me think that he must have a very serious or dark past. He never really shows his emotions with utmost passion, no matter what he feels. At times, he is very hard to read.
?However, the young Albus didn¡¯t cover his emotions at all and was very clear about what he felt. We also see how strongly he loved Grindelwald in the?Secrets of Dumbledore. He was very clear in his displeasure to face Grindelwald and his disappointment with Leta, among many other things. Young Albus even expressed his vulnerability in front of the Mirror of Erised which tells us that the young Dumbledore isn¡¯t anything like the old one when it comes to showing emotions. Looks like an incident must have happened during this transition that has forced Dumbledore into a certain reaction-less manner in his old age.
The?Secrets of the Dumbledore?may have somehow managed to impress Harry Potter fans by covering all the loopholes of?Crimes of Grindelwald?but it does need to work on its proper characterization as some of them do have a strong place in the hearts of Harry Potter fans.?
Jude Law as Dumbledore has done a terrific job but the writers still need to polish his character a lot to match the enigma of Richard Harris.?Although, both the portrayals suit their respective timelines, we just need to get a deep character study on how this transition happened.