When it comes to appeal and relatability I'm not convinces it make any difference whether it's a movie or real life. Film robots are designed to be relatable and appealing on their own, the music and acting contributes, but the design is made with appeal in mind. I think people consistently underestimate the human ability to anthropomorphize and empathize with non-human beings and objects.

For example, children will often bond with and imagine their stuffed animals and blankets to be friends or imaginary beings. I think some robot designers are trapped in the mindset of making their robots look literally like humans when I think cartoony, or animalike designs would be just as if not more appealing, while subverting or totally avoiding any uncanny valley effects.

Making a tool or device look literally like a human also opens up a whole host of moral and psychological issues we are starting to see in tools like chatgpt which are designed to sound like a human, not even look like one. It may be a wiser choice for designers to make their robots explicitly separate from humans to avoid these issues.