Sophie Barthes returns to the director’s chair with “The Pod Generation”, her first feature film since 2014’s “Madame Bovary”. This kinda wacky, oddly alluring, and slyly funny sci-fi satire sees Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor (both very good) playing a married couple looking to start a family in a dystopian society marked by its dehumanization and artificiality.

In our current day when dependence on technology has never been higher and something as simple as human connection is quickly becoming a foreign concept, “The Pod Generation” makes for a timely movie. The not-so-distant future that Barthes envisions is a world where nature has become a commodity and society has been severed from any tangible connection to it. People rely on artificial intelligence in nearly every facet of their lives. It runs many of their homes, doing everything from fixing their breakfast to measuring their serotonin levels and gauging their “bliss index”. Even human psychiatrists have been replaced by A.I. therapists.

Nowhere is this unhealthy disconnect more evident than in the area having children. While some still practice the archaic ritual of a natural childbirth, most go to companies that specialize in having your baby for you. They claim to be the answer to the declining birth rate which they blame on inconvenience. “Let us do the heavy lifting while you enjoy your babies.”

Enter Rachel (Clarke), a middle-aged businesswoman working for a large firm who just acquired such a company. It’s called the Womb Center (that’s 1-800-WOMB for those interested in a tour) and it is highly esteemed in its field. For the most part Rachel has bought into the tech-driven world of her day unlike her husband Alvy (Ejiofor), a botanist who spends much of his time growing plants in their apartment and lamenting their world’s detachment from nature.

At the aggressive urging of her boss, Rachel visits the Womb Center and schedules a tour without telling Alvy. They both want to have a child and he’s thinking natural birth. But she’s leaning the other way especially after her boss’ more self-serving recommendation. They ultimately decide to use the Womb Center which ends up taking their marriage in a number of unexpected directions as they face the convenient ups and more concerning downs of having a custom-made baby.

Barthes has a lot of fun with her concept and her movie turns out to be a lot funnier than I expected. She pulls some good laughs from the sheer absurdity of we see and hear. Yet there is a not-so-subtle warning throughout that is worth listening to. Not everything done in the name of “progress” is for our good especially if we’re trading in the very essence of our humanity. Losing our identities, trying to manufacture happiness, sacrificing our individualism for convenience – just some of the thoughts that came to mind as I watched.

Unfortunately the movie loses its way a bit in the last act and ends without ever really satisfying the interests it raises in us along the way. I appreciated the hint of optimism we get in its final scenes, but was left wondering about the movie’s convictions. Still, Barthes poses a number of thought-provoking questions and has a lot of fun playing around in her cool futuristic sandbox. The movie looks great and the performances from Clarke and Ejiofor are key to centering us in the wacky world their characters inhabit. If only the movie a little more bite. “The Pod Generation” hits theaters August 11th.

VERDICT – 3 STARS