Sometimes, things are better left off dead.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is the sequel to the 1988 film of the (almost) same name, and features Michael Keaton reprising his role as the tituar demon. In the film, a now-grown Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) enlists the help of Betelgeuse to save her daughter (Jenna Ortega) from the Afterlife. Catherine O’Hara also reprises her role, while Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe join the cast and Tim Burton returns to direct.

I hold no nostalgia for the original “Beetlejuice” (I only finally saw it last year), and while I appreciate Burton and his distinct style I only truly love a select handful of his films (namely “Batman” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”). So I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this 35-year-old sequel with much hype, but the cast is solid so I went in with an open mind. And the end result is a film made pretty much exclusively for fans of the original and Hot Topic shoppers, that relies a bit too much on style and not enough on substance.

There are only a select few directors who can truly claim to have a distinct style, and Tim Burton is certainly one of them. Often featuring creepy stop-motion, twisty gothic sets, and wacky characters, Burton has made a name for himself over the last 40 years as the go-to if you want your film to feel like its a Hot Topic store come to life. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” feels like a return to form for the director after several paycheck efforts like “Dumbo” and “Alice in Wonderland,” and you can tell that he is enjoying himself re-entering this world.

Michael Keaton has enjoyed a pretty successful career resurgence in the last 10 years (not that he ever went away), earning an Oscar nomination for “Birdman,” appearing in several Best Picture nominees/winners, and reprising his famed Batman role in “The Flash.” And it’s clear he is very much enjoying putting on the makeup and black-and-white striped suit as the role that catapulted his career back in the 80s. I personally don’t love the Betelgeuse character, I find most of the shtick obvious, but do appreciate Keaton’s dead-ication to the role, and he does produce a few laughs (I’m a sucker for a well-placed PG-13 f-bomb).

The rest of the cast is solid, and all understood the task at hand. Catherine O’Hara remains one of the best (and most underappreciated) comedic actresses working today, with some shrieks and quips that call back to her “Schitt’s Creek” days. Jenna Ortega, who I’ve long attributed as having RBF (Resting Burton Face) and is basically playing her moody, goth Wednesday Addams character, has some good deadpan delivery and natural charm with all her co-stars, and Willem Dafoe feels custom-built for a Tim Burton project as the undead police officer tasked with hunting down Betelgeuse.

Monica Bellucci is always welcome in movies, but she feels entirely tacked-on as the film’s antagonist (I can’t prove it, but I’d wager her involvement has something to do with her currently dating Burton). And that leads me to the film’s biggest problem: there are multiple storylines going on and almost none of them have any actual weight on the plot. There are four “main” stories going on, and while they all intersect none of them are truly given the proper time to feel fleshed out or weighty, and more than one of them are resolved in comically unsatisfying fashion. There is also a lip-synch musical sequence that is very awkward, overlong, and not even catchy; it just adds to a weak third act.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a sequel made by and for fans of the original, and anyone like myself who is largely indifferent to the first film will likely not give it the good grace needed to overlook the aimless screenplay. If you go into this purely looking for spooky vibes then you can probably find enough to walk out satisfied; had I watched this on a cold Halloween night or it was released in October and not immediately after Labor Day I’m sure I’d be a little more forgiving. I’m not mad at the film and I can’t say I was bored, but like many legacy sequels this simply feels like a studio milking an IP and a director who hit a bit of a dry spell wanting to return to their greatest hits; and for some people, that may be enough.

Critics Rating: 5/10