Heartwarming / Song of the Sea

• The opening has Bronagh and Ben painting the new room for the baby. All the while singing the Song of the Sea together.
• There is a sort of Genius Bonus Heartwarming in the flashbacks from before Bronagh's disappearance. In most stories about selkies, a man would steal and hide the selkie's coat to prevent her from leaving him, but Bronagh is never seen without her coat, meaning Conor decided not to take it away. Bronagh loved Conor enough to stay with him on land, and Conor trusted her love enough to let his wife keep the one thing that could allow her to go where he could not follow. A small but sweet moment is when Ben asks Conor if he likes the selkie he and his mother painted, and Conor replies "She's beautiful", but he does so while looking at Bronagh instead of the painting.
• The entire relationship between Ben and Cu. Even if Ben doesn't have a good relationship with Saoirse, Cu has stuck by Ben since they were both little, and Ben's interactions with Cu show that he isn't really a bad kid deep down.
• Granny wanting to take the kids into the city for their own good was very sweet, if misguided.
• After snapping at Ben for being so difficult over leaving with his grandmother, Conor offers an apology.
• Dan the Ferryman's sympathetic nature towards Ben and Saoirse when Granny takes them away from their father.
  • Replicated somewhat with the Great Seanchai once Ben points out his sister is a selkie.
• Ben carrying Saoirse to the Holy Well through a patch of nettles, willingly getting his legs stung just to avoid the same thing happening to her, she immediately repays him by nursing his legs with dock-leaves. Not only does this mark the beginning of the friendship Ben long denied her, but it shows him finally warming up to her as a brother.
• The flashback on the night of Bronagh's disappearance/death reveals that she sacrificed herself in order to give birth to Saoirse.
• Ben's increasing concern for Saoirse after their first encounter with Macha.
• Ben apologizing to Saoirse for being a bad brother to her and saying that everything that has happened wasn't her fault.
• Saoirse's first word: "Ben."
• The fact that the fairies had forgiven a repentant Macha enough to drop by her place and welcome her among them.
• Macha's reunion with her son Mac Lir.
• Bronagh unconditionally accepting Saoirse's choice in staying with Ben and Conor, even if it meant not having a single member of her family with her in Tir Na Nog.
• At the ending, it's Ben's birthday. Ben and Conor are painting in Ben and Saoirse's room. Cut to him about to blow out his birthday candles, Saoirse smashes his face into the cake, but this time it's in good spirits and even Ben laughs along with everyone else.
• The last scene of the film shows Ben, Saoirse, and Cu swimming together with the seals. They are finally having a great time together, and with the way the seals follow them, it's almost as though they mean to watch over Bronagh's two children even though Saoirse no longer has her selkie powers.
  • Notably, this is a nice Book Ends to when Ben previously had a fear of swimming. Thanks to his experience, he's come out of it better than before and now able to enjoy the ocean his mother loved so dearly.

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