5th-Gen Male Idol’s Voice Acting Gets Brutal Reviews From Korean Moviegoers

DreamWorks‘ animated movie Trolls Band Together was released in South Korea on December 20.

“Trolls Band Together” | DreamWorks

The dubbed version features K-Pop idols Red Velvet‘s Wendy and RIIZE‘s Eunseok for the voices of lead characters, Poppy and Branch.

Following the release, though, the voice acting has since received some brutal reviews from Korean moviegoers.

RIIZE’s Eunseok with his Troll, “Branch.” | @RIIZE_official/Twitter

In particular, a tweet blazing Eunseok’s dubbing has gotten over 4M+ views…

트롤 남주 더빙 어떤 씨발새끼가
연예인을 쳐 넣어놨냐???
너의이름은 더빙 이후로 이렇게 좆같은 더빙은 처음 들음 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 여주도 연예인 써도 들을만 했는데 남주는 씨발 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ돈이쳐아깝네

저 목소리 톤으로 소리지르기, 비명, 감탄, 프로포즈, 고백, 진지한 독백 다 함 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ https://t.co/TLwFqB68RE pic.twitter.com/qEdIflpdzG

— 밤빛 (@nightlight0102) December 25, 2023

OK. Which b*stard cast a celeb for the male lead role for the dubbed version of the Trolls movie? This is the first time since Your Name that I’ve had to listen to such sh*tty voice acting. The female lead was also a celeb, but she did OK. But the male lead? For f*ck’s sake, LOL. What a waste of my money.

FYI, he uses that same tone of voice for screaming, shouting, proposing, confessing, narrating serious thoughts, and literally saying everything else.

— @nightlight0102/Twitter

…with thousands of Koreans across online communities agreeing that the voice acting was subpar.

| theqoo

• “PLEASE use voice actors for dubbing movies… Ticket sales are not going to go up because of celebrities in the cast lineup. All it does is slam the quality straight to the ground.”
• “This happens in Japan, too. Sometimes celebrities will take on voice acting roles over professional voice actors. But in Japan, too, the celebrities will face backlash if they don’t perform well. Even if the director(s) work extra hard, the movie will fall apart if the voice acting sucks. And Japanese voice actor fans are even scarier, so sh*t gets worse.”
• “Listen… We have professional voice actors for a reason. It’s not easy to become one either. So to overlook those people, who’ve worked hard to hold the positions they hold, and to cast a totally-underprepared nobody? Like, why would anyone opt for the amateur over actual professionals?”
• “Wendy did quite well, TBH. My friend and I were impressed throughout the movie. But Eunseok… Yes, he was awkward. IDK if the tweet had to get so pressed about it, though.”
• “WTF? Who even is this dude?”
• “F*cking sucks.”

In addition, Korean moviegoers then debated whether dubbing should be left to professional voice actors or if idols should continue to be given opportunities.

| theqoo

• “What were we expecting? [SM Entertainment] hooked up a total rookie with the gig. Haha.”
• “Did we not learn the lesson after seeing how Your Name needed to be re-dubbed with professional voice actors after all the drama?”
• “Also… This movie is under fire for not naming any of the professional actors in the ending credits. It only lists the idols. So, naturally, voice actor fans are pissed AF. I haven’t watched the movie yet. But I can already tell where voice actors stand in Korea. Haha. I’m a huge fan of Korea’s voice actors, so… This is all very discouraging, I don’t know if I even want to support by watching.”
• “I actually had no idea Eunseok was the voice behind Branch. But while watching the movie, I got super frustrated because I couldn’t stand the tone and singing.”
• “I really hope that people stop thinking voice acting is an easy job. Voice acting is literally ACTING. There are ways to do it right and do it well. This is no different from singers taking on acting roles that are too big for them and failing at carrying out the part.”
• “Please cast professional voice actors for dubbing movies… It’s literally acting, and we need actors.”
• “Eunseok doesn’t know how to act, that’s the problem.”

Watch Eunseok talk about what led him to accept the role in his interview here.