Heartwarming / The Santa Clause 2

• Carol is not mean when busting Charlie for graffiti. She's disappointed and says that she knows he has the potential to be better. You can see she really cares about her students.
• When Charlie has to bring his parents for a conference with Carol, they're not mad at him for getting into trouble. Everyone is worried because it's not like Charlie to do graffiti and troll the school. Neil tries to use his psychology training to reason out a logical explanation, while Scott insists that Charlie made a mistake and they can trust his word to not do it again. Carol is reasonable enough to give Charlie a second chance and expresses concern that Scott being an absent father could be the cause of his behavior. (She ends up being right; Charlie admits he was lashing out because he can't tell anyone that his dad has the greatest job in the world and they don't get to spend a lot of time together.) Carol later defends her students in detention to a man who treats them as gangsters.
• The moment that wins Carol over is when she reveals that Charlie vandalized some lockers. Rather than go Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal, Scott gets Anger Born of Worry. He calls out Charlie for breaking his promise and is asking if he wants to be expelled. Then he bargains with Carol to not suspend Charlie, and instead sentence him to community service. Carol can see that Scott takes his parenting job seriously and has accepted that his son can't be protected from the consequences.
  • Also during this scene, Carol has taken notice of Scott's dramatic weight loss (due to the de-Santification process) and concernedly asks him if everything is all right with his health.
• During a dull teacher Christmas conference, Scott uses Santa's magic to give a bunch of adults a chance to let their inner child out by giving them the Christmas presents they loved most when they were little. Heck, just Scott pulling out all the stops on his first date with Carol in general. In addition to the secret Santa at the party (which involved him getting her the toy she told him about an hour ago), he gave her a sleigh ride, fresh falling snow, and mistletoe, even when he didn't need to. It didn't work as he wanted to but it's the thought that counts.
• The relationship Scott and Lucy have. The fact that she calls him "Uncle Scott" even though they're not related and she's not his step-kid or anything. It's adorable.
  • Especially when she realizes she was right about his secret identity all along.
  • Also the difference between the first movie, where Scott is always fighting with Laura and considers Neal an enemy and the second movie where they’re all friends. This is especially apparent with Neal. They greet each other with a hug upon meeting at Charlie's school, and while they still engage in Snark-to-Snark Combat, it is much more on the end of light-hearted ribbing rather than the mean-spirited jabs and smug condescension from the first movie.
• Charlie going out of his way to tell Carol not to reject Scott just because she doesn't believe he's Santa Claus. Charlie hated her (since she was his no-nonsense principal, and Scott sided with her in punishing him) and felt betrayed that Scott was dating her... but still wanted nothing more than for his dad to be happy.
• Comet bonding with Charlie and Lucy, to the point he goes from reluctant to excited to return to Scott's hometown when he mentions visiting Charlie.
• Charlie and Scott letting Lucy in on the secret of Scott's identity at the end of the second film. She's extremely excited to learn her theory was correct. Though Lucy is initially dismayed that she can't share it, Charlie let's her know that it's ok because she can keep believing in Santa Claus forever. She then tells Charlie she loves him and they hug.