Much like the original, “Beetlejuice,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has got the juice.

Director Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” appeared in theaters Friday, resurrecting his ghoulish 1988 comedy classic “Beetlejuice” from its presumed death after 36 years. The film embraces this lost time, centering on spiritual medium Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) hosting her father’s funeral in the original film’s haunted manor decades after her first fateful encounter with the grotesque ghost Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton). Accompanied by her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara), the family becomes entangled in supernatural shenanigans, forcing Lydia to begrudgingly call upon Beetlejuice’s services.

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In an era of reboots and underwhelming franchise revivals, audiences should approach another Beetlejuice film with skepticism. Burton passed the opportunity to immediately craft a sequel – a shame given the delicious trainwreck potential of “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian” – opting instead to allow an animated television series and several video games to sing the character’s swan song in the early 1990s. Given Burton’s initial reluctance, one might expect this is another case of Warner Bros tapping its vast film catalog for nostalgic box office fodder.

But while this film is certainly another safe paycheck for its distributor, Burton clearly made this sequel with intentionality and some level of passion.

The clearest example might be his direction of Ortega. The two previously collaborated on her zeitgeist-influencing performance in “Wednesday,” where Ortega’s confident, calculating and cruel depiction of the titular character won over audiences. Given this film’s macabre theming, Burton could have simply directed Astrid Deetz as Wednesday with another name – but she is not. Instead, Ortega gets to exercise her practiced blank stare and dour attitude when needed, but also frequently presents an awkward, vulnerable, frustrated teenager. Burton chose the right approach, utilizing more of Ortega’s range rather than relying on easy familiarity.

This grounded performance is refreshing in a film where the other characters are caricatures. Astrid’s grandmother is a pretentious, annoying artist, her stepfather is a manipulative yet pathetic manager and the ghosts are defined by singular, kooky personality traits. These characters are designed to construct the comedy scaffolding of the film, but their one-dimensional nature can clash with the more grounded and relatable performances from Ortega and Ryder as the mother-daughter heart of the film.

Given the comedic intentions of the film, Astrid and Lydia’s relationship is developed just enough to satisfy, but this film will not pull at heartstrings. The script’s pacing and tone instead fulfill the fantasy of decades-old adventure-comedy films, offering a low-stakes, well-paced thrill ride through a fabulous world. There are some notable flaws – including a C-plot involving Beetlejuice’s ex-wife that is ultimately superfluous – but the story arc feels complete with a few clever twists and surprises throughout the film’s runtime.

This action is set against extravagant production design, highlighting and complementing Burton’s affinity for the macabre. The underworld harkens back to the fabulist production sensibilities of Tim Burton’s 1980s features, focusing on comedy and aesthetics over realism and detail. Rather than rely on green screens and computer-generated environments – the cost-effective approach – the production designer Mark Scruton crafted cartoonish, creative sets bathed in dubious blues and garish greens. Only when they embrace modern compositing and video-editing techniques do the effects begin to falter, with sloppy computer-aided visuals occasionally rearing their ugly head.

Amid these zany backdrops, the film reveals itself as sincerely funny. The writers are constantly playing characters off each other for gaffs, but the film never waits and begs a laugh, instead whisking the audience to the next joke or plot point as soon as it can. While Keaton’s Beetlejuice is not the narrative center of the film, he is certainly the comedic thesis, presenting musical numbers and campy flashbacks alongside his slapstick and fourth-wall breaking material. He is the same as he was decades ago, though he packs some new tricks that are borderline-prurient in this outing – parents beware.

But where Beetlejuice has not changed – for better or for worse – the world around him has. The film is sometimes petty, dunking on easy targets like social media influencers or pedantic art snobs. But from its very first scenes, the film targets manipulative, abusive men, the cultural villain of the social media era. There are several who make themselves known by the film’s end, and the conflict is largely driven by their horrendous actions. In this context, Beetlejuice curiously becomes a foil to the foul men on display – at least he is honest about his depravity.

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For some audiences, a replication of Keaton’s original Beetlejuice is all they need from this film – and they will not be disappointed. For everyone else, this film is a satisfying seance with the world and characters of “Beetlejuice,” paying homage to the filmmaking era that made Burton a household name. This will not become another classic, but does stand as a respectable, dignified sequel with talent and heart.

This film offers a fitting epitaph for the Beetlejuice franchise – perhaps it is best not to risk a third.