To many the rather twee Victorian novels of Beatrix Potter have been viewed as nothing more than an excuse for National Trust shops to sell cutesy ceramics.

However, behind the cuddly world of Jemima Puddleduck, Peter Rabbit and Squirrel Nutkin there is a real and affecting story waiting to be told.

Director Chris "Babe" Noonan's biographical story features Potter as a determined free spirit who bucks Victorian convention and the snobbish dictates of her class to become a successful author.

She's more than prepared to ignore her starchy, arriviste parents' objections to her engagement to Norman Warne, a junior publisher her snooty mum dismisses as "a tradesman".

Raised in leafy Kensington at the turn-of-the-century, Beatrix (Zellweger) was cared for by a nanny and encouraged by her parents (Bill Paterson and Barbara Flynn) to develop her artistic talents.

However, by the age of 32 she is unmarried, having rejected a string of chinless suitors who made up with money what they lacked in personality. Her "friends" take the form of fluffy animal characters she has invented. Yes, she's a bit weird.

At the same time she is proving an unexpected success with her illustrated children's tales and has forged a bond - and perhaps more - with her young publisher Warne (McGregor), a novice who was fobbed off with Potter by his unimpressed brothers.

Very soon - with the skittish encouragement of Warne's sister Millie(Watson) - the couple are engaged and a happy future beckons. Well, it would do if Beatrix was writing it.

Noonan has spun a handsome yarn free from pretension with engaging performances from Zellweger and McGregor - a world away from their last outing as clones of Rock Hudson and Doris Day in Down With Love.

He's particularly strong on Potter - while no Germaine Greer - kicking against the stifling confines of Victorian convention and evolving into that rare thing - a woman of self-created means.

The last act - when Potter relocates to the Lake District and embarks on an enlightened policy of land conservation - seems a bit rushed and, for once, we could have done with more time for events to unfold.

Nevertheless, it's never less than compelling and the perfect outing with your mum and your nan.

Tim Evans