10 Movie Mentors Who Were Actually Complete Morons
6. Albus Dumbledore - The Harry Potter Films
I've never seen such an ill-suited mentor than Dumbledore. Of course, on the face of it, he seemed like the ideal mentor: immeasurably powerful, brimming with knowledge and even has the middle name Brian, which is surely after Dave pretty much the trademark for unfussy reliable-ness. Yet the problem with J.K. Rowling's books and by extension the films is that if you stick in a character who embodies an deus ex machina, you're automatically opening yourself to criticism.
Why couldn't Dumbledore solve everything? He seems pretty on the ball, and is ultra-powerful to boot. Yet there's always a contrived reason why Dumbledore cant help: he's off talking to the Ministry of Magic, he's off on a conference somewhere, he's hitting up Kavos with a combination of magic tricks and wavering moral standards. Yet even that doesn't solve our problems. After all, magic isn't like kickboxing, as your effectiveness doesn't decrease as you age; if anything you get more powerful.
Dumbledore is well over 100 and Voldemort is at least 70, yet they're easily the most potent characters in the Potterverse. This begs the question: why does Dumbledore even need Harry? He's well capable of taking care of business himself, and even possesses an unbeatable duelling wand. Yet he just simply doesn't take care of business. It's not like hes busy teaching classes or anything he practically never leaves his office. Why didn't he get off his backside and sort everything out himself, rather than subject Harry to continuously traumatic end-of-year parties and cryptic clues? I guess the answer must be laziness. It sure must be tiring doing three-eighths of nothing.