IT was certainly a great day for 30 boys from the Salvation Army Boys’ Home when they were treated to a movie, complete with popcorn and soft drinks, at the Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) cineplex in Queensbay Mall, Penang. Organised by the mall in conjunction with Christmas and sponsored by GSC, the boys got to watch the movie ‘Doraemon: The New Nobita’s Great Adventure to The Underworld.’Two people dressed as Doraemon and Nobita greeted the boys outside the cineplex before the movie on Saturday.Nicholas Ng, five, could not take his eyes off the life-sized figures as they greeted the children.“I love the cartoon and I read the comics too.”“I’m so happy that I got to meet them today!” Ng said gleefully.His friend, Khu Weng Shen, 11, also said his dream came true when he got to meet and hug the characters.

“I never thought I’ll get to see them in life-size! This is a wonderful Christmas present,” he said.Other than the Salvation Army boys, the 260-seat cineplex was also filled up with about 200 shoppers, their children and readers of Kuntum Magazine who were given free tickets to the mo-vie when they bought Doraemon plush toys or signed up for the magazine.

Sahibah Noor said her son, Lutfil Hadi Nurazam, five, refused to go to bed the night before for fear of not being able to wake up on time to catch the movie.

“He was just so excited about the movie that he wanted to stay up all night.

“Only after I convinced him that the movie will wait for him if he was late did he sleep at 1am,” she said.

Another avid Doraemon fan, Tan Ying Jie, eight, and her younger sister, Joey, six, said they collected all Doraemon comics and had never miss any of its movies.

“I like both the comics and the movies and it is so wonderful that Doraemon and Nobita are here too!” Ying Jie exclaimed.