That is my understanding as well. Unfortunately, scholarship being what it was, a true revival of Roman culture was impossible. Basically, the impression I get is that it was just Franks playing "dress up." Please bear in mind, however, that I am far from being an authority on the period.
You might enjoy the late Fr. John Romanides' website The Romans, Ancient, Medieval and Modern.
Memory eternal! Memory eternal! Memory eternal! (I only learned of Fr. John's passing when I check the link for you.)
It didn't have as much to do with scholarship as it had to do with the fact that the Franks were not really trying to continue the Empire as it used to be. The Holy Roman Empire was not "Franks playing 'dress up.'" The HRE was not an attempt at a "continuation" of the Old Empire. It was a "REcreation" of the Empire, a new Empire if you will. This new Empire would be something that the old one was not. Whereas the Caesars claimed power by authority of either birth, by being appointed by the previous Emperor, or by right of conquest, the new Emperor claimed power through divine right. And The Holy Roman Emperor held his power in trust from God as the protector of Christendom.