The travel drive is definitely intentionally funny. She creates/becomes this thing beyond comprehension, so she has to dumb it down to our level. Especially funny considering there is no need for a travel drive, since, as she reveals seconds later, she is transcendent.

I loved the moment with "Lucy" (the ape) at the end for a billion reasons-- the idea that she is responsible for the spark of humanity, the religious allusions to the Creation of Man on the Sistine Ceiling (made even more obvious by the inclusion of the painting in an earlier montage), her deadpan responses to "Lucy"'s scream.

It just never felt pretentious or even pseudo-deep. It all felt playful in tone, designed to entertain and to take you on a ride more than to teach you some grander truth.

It's not like the film was humorless in tone or overly grave at any moment-- even the most "serious" moment in the film (the phone call with Mom) is funny in its execution (the Mom asking if she's okay as the doctor reaches into her belly). It's all a whirlwind.