I rewatched that last night. I haven't watched it in about 20 years, because when I was a kid, it was just... Too sad. I couldn't handle the grief in it, I guess, and it genuinely sat with me for years afterwards (though I couldn't remember which movie it was, lol). It's easy to mix up with AI: Artificial Intelligence, which came out at the same time, though I don't think I've seen that one. But if you have, apparently there's a lot of crossover...
Anyway, without throwing too many spoilers out, I mostly quite liked it, this time around. Critics at the time didn't, and it didn't do very well at the box office, partly due to bad marketing (marketed as a family comedy, when it really... Wasn't), and partly tonal inconsistencies...
It's definitely flawed, and I wish it had spent less time trying to force Asimov's ideas and screwball physical comedy into the same film. There's some serious plot holes, and some things which are just... Uncomfortable, but it's not a bad film by any means.
Still incredibly sad, though. However the things about it that make me sad are different to those that greatly affected me when I was around 8, lol.
Robin Williams does a pretty good job, though I personally think Embeth Davidtz (what a name, lol) and Oliver Platt did a better job with the material they were given.
But yeah, I certainly still like this movie a lot more than Reddit does, for example, lol.
It asks some questions that I doubt Hollywood would even have the balls to think about, these days. Which is something.
I saw both AI and Bicentennial man when I was a kid. They definitely have synergy, because the memories of both of them are blended and linked in my head. I cant recall one without also remembering the other. Both messed by head up with the grief and sense of loss, lol. I still have an involuntary sad reaction now when I remember them. I think they became core memories somehow because of how fatalistic they were.
I think, on this point, even 8/9 year old me was very confused by the granddaughter thing… Like it was just like, “Huh, what the hell? Is she the same woman, or not??”, lol.
Which was a fair reaction, I think.
Side note also: the actress for “Little Miss” as a child is Jesse Eisenberg’s (older?) sister, so there you go.
Yeah, that’s kind of the same for me, I think. Though I’m not sure if I’ve actually seen AI. But I remember being thoroughly traumatized and confused by Bicentennial Man for the exact same reason, lol, and then very much the same as you, it became a core memory, then eventually I forgot which film it was, but still remembered the sadness, lol…
I only remembered/figured out it was this film when I looked it up a couple of years ago, in fact.
I have this also with a horror scene that I can remember seeing when I was very young, of a guy getting run over. I can remember all the detail, but I still have no idea what the movie was. But yeah, very similar thing!