As stars continue to challenge themselves with voice acting through animation, there are mixed reactions to ‘celebrity dubbing’.Some are expressing regret over the dubbing quality not reaching that of professional voice actors, while others are expressing positive opinions about the promotional effects of using stars.

Netflix Korea’s first original animation, ‘This Star’s Need ‘, released on the 30th of last month, also put’ star dubbing ‘at the forefront.’ This Star ‘is a work that depicts a long-distance romance between Nan-young, an astronaut who went to Mars, and Jae-yi, a musician staying on Earth.It garnered attention early on with Kim Tae-ri and Hong Kyung each providing voice acting.

That’s not all.’How to Train Your Dragon’, which will be released in theaters on the 6th, has chosen Lee Dae-hwi, formerly of Wanna One and a member of AB6IX, as the voice of the main character in the dubbed version.’How to Train Your Dragon’ is a live-action version of the animation of the same name, and both the subtitled and dubbed versions will be released separately.

In addition, AKMU’s Lee Su-hyun will be voicing the main character in the domestic animation ‘Love Letter’ scheduled to be released within the year, and Ahn Hyo-seop will challenge himself with dubbing through the Netflix animation ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters ‘produced in the US, showing off 100% English acting.

Although stars are taking on dubbing challenges one after another, the public’s reaction to their voice acting, which falls short of the level of professional voice actors, is somewhat mixed.

‘This Star’s Need ‘, which has a 90% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, also received favorable reviews for its excellent animation and delicate, lyrical story, but some reactions to the dubbing included, “It was hard to get into the movie because the faces of Kim Tae-ri and Hong Kyung came to mind instead of the characters.”

Despite some negative public opinion, industry insiders agree that star dubbing, which can have a promotional effect through famous actors, will increase in the future.

An industry insider told Sports Donga, “Since animation is still a non-mainstream genre in Korea, it may be a genre that needs the promotional effect of star marketing even more than live-action films,” and asked for the audience’s positive view of star dubbing.


Reporter Seungmi smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.