During her youth she was mostly known as "Miss Potter," an unmarried spinster from a wealthy London family who had a knack for drawing rabbits and other small animals with astonishing lifelike precision. Success came to her in middle age, and Miss Beatrix Potter went on to become one of the world's best-loved authors of children's books. Her creations: Peter Rabbit, Miss Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mr. Jeremy Fox et al, brought her fame and wealth but she always shied away from the brassy trappings of stardom.

She used her royalties to purchase and preserve the English countryside that she loved so much, and after her death the land was given over to the Conservation Society. How would Miss Potter have reacted to a Hollywood bio-pic about her personal life, titled (so aptly) "Miss Potter?" My guess is that she would have raised at least an eyebrow and some ladylike objections. Director Chris Noonan (of "Babe" fame) treats Beatrix Potter and her art as adorably accessible cinematic munchies. Not that this is a bad thing. Just as her animal creations have captivated audiences around the globe for more than a century, it is perhaps fitting that her life story should be as widely seen and appreciated as possible.

Noonan is very alert to the sense of decorum that defined Miss Potter's existence and that of London society of the era (around 1900), and his ear for stuffy drawing-room dialogue is faultless. On the other hand, his Miss Potter (played by a quietly feisty, rosy-cheeked Renee Zellweger) comes off as an independent, strong-willed individual, a dedicated professional who refused to live life as dictated by the strict Victorian standards of her mother, Mrs. Potter (Barbara Flynn). However, she didn't go so far as to rebel completely and embarrass her family; in this way and others, Miss Potter was admirable and inspiring — a formidable woman with a mind of her own, but with a modest and tenable ego.