It was a wonderful mid-morning last Saturday in Atria Shopping Gallery’s MBO Cinemas branch. A group of excited children gathered in the dim hall awaiting for the magical movie to begin.

At the same time, about 3,400 children gathered around in 23 MBO Cinemas around the nation thanks to children-focused NGO, Kiwanis Malaysia who joint hands with the movie house to organise this movie outing in conjunction with the school holidays.

The participating outlets were from Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Ipoh, Skudai, Kluang, Batu Pahat, Kota Tinggi, Teluk Intan, Taiping, Kuantan, Kulim, Melaka, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.

Returning for its third year, the ‘Kiwanis-MBO Mega Movie Treats 3.0’ took place simultaneously across all MBO Cinemas outlets nationwide with a special screening of Disney’s latest live-action film, Dumbo.

The event was graced by the presence of Selangor State Assemblywoman for Kampung Tunku, YB Lim Yi Wei, General Manager of Sales and Marketing of MBO Cinemas, Jamie Tiong, and District Governor of Kiwanis Malaysia, Ivan Oh, among many other high profile VIPs.

District Governor Ivan Oh started off his speech with the quote “Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood” before continuing with,

“It’s fascinating that movies are able to spark the imagination in children and inspire them to dream and strife to achieve their goals.

“Given the right movies and motivation of course, movies can have positive impact for children, for example, movies that reflect the triumphant of good over evil, or the lessons on never to give up until you succeed.

“Hence this collaboration with MBO where we believe the movie treat do not only bring smile and cheer for the day but we hope it will also inspire the children to dream big and do great things when they grow up, regardless of their
background.

“This is the third year Kiwanis Malaysia is collaborating with MBO.

“The collaboration with MBO to bring this opportunity to children not only brings smiles and cheers for the day, but more importantly, it helps spark imagination and bring home lessons on positive values such as to accept differences or to strive until success is achieved.”

Soon after the formalities were concluded, the movie began. The children were captivated from beginning to end with barely a peep heard from any of them.

The movie indeed taught lessons of self-acceptance and self-confidence. The lovely story not only instils great moral values in the children at a tender age but it also serves as a reminder to adults that we ought to be less judgemental and be more loving.

As the children slowly file out of the cinema and into the lounge, the afterglow of excitement and wonder still lingered on their innocent faces.

The children then had a lovely lunch sponsored by Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut and Dutch Lady.