We were invited to the movie screening of the Dreamsworks Animation, Turbo, at Golden Village Katong last week. I can’t believe we got to watch a movie in the cinema again under the ‘Mums & Babies Movie Screening at GV’! The last time we were invited, we watched The Croods at Golden Village City Square and enjoyed the movie thoroughly.

Being deprived of entertainment, unless you count watching my three kids clown around, I lugged all three of them plus the helper to the movie screening by bus – circle line – free shuttle (at Paya Lebar MRT) at 10 last Tuesday morning, so we can get our movie fix.

We arrived at I12 Katong’s Golden Village Cineplex at 11.45am and had ample time to settle in. It was a good thing I didn’t buy popcorn; the kids were given Gerber Graduates Puffs and a box of Heinz Baby Biscuits each. We grabbed three booster seats (which I didn’t find in GV City Square) and trooped into the theatre, all ready for the movie.

What I particularly loved about this movie experience was that we were assigned seats all the way at the back and the kids could move around freely up and down the aisles, and in and out of the theatre (perfect for the little one who couldn’t sit still, and the older ones who needed to pee). The doors were kept open throughout the movie, so Nat who couldn’t sit still after half an hour got to roam about outside for a while with the helper. There were also some dim lights along the aisles such that the theatre wasn’t completely dark. At GV City Square where we watched The Croods, the lights were all turned off and the kids were pretty terrified at their first movie experience. There were also babies who were crying non stop then and I thought some dimmed lights might have helped soothe them.

The kids also had booster seats this time and that too, was a wonderful thing, because I needn’t sit any of them on my lap and hear them complain that they can’t see the screen.

Turbo was a good movie about daring to dream big – because how incredulous is it that a garden snail wishes to be as fast as a racer, right? – and Ben loved the speed and velocity in the movie. So did Nat, who’s into cars and trucks now at 20 months. Becks was a little alienated, but was more than happy to finish the Gerber Graduates.

It didn’t matter that we caught the movie three months after its release. We had a great time, and I totally just chilled out. Those 90 minutes were as good as a me-time I haven’t had in months, cos there was finally no one on my lap, and there was, at long last, silence from the kids for a while. 

Thank you, Golden Village, once again, for the invitation!