Lithe women traditionally have played Peter Pan, but Johnny Depp could slip on the tights and put in a convincing turn as the boy who won?t grow up.

Arguably the most versatile actor of his generation, Depp further expands his repertoire with a restrained, compassionate performance as ?Peter Pan? creator J.M. Barrie in ?Finding Neverland?, a role that could bring the actor his second Academy Award nomination.

Though not terribly subtle in its parallels between Barrie?s real-life inspirations and his best-known creation, ?Finding Neverland? is a smart, engaging portrait whose whimsy nicely complements the flightiness of ?Peter Pan?.

Depp shares tender chemistry with co-star Kate Winslet, playing a widow whose young sons need a father figure at just the moment Barrie needs a muse to shake him out of his creative doldrums.

Coming off his manic ?Pirates of the Caribbean? performance that brought his first Oscar nomination, Depp is a marvel of subtle conflict here, stiff Victorian propriety clashing with his inner child.

The well-cast drama features fine support from Dustin Hoffman, Julie Christie and Radha Mitchell.

?Finding Neverland? also is a pleasant progression for director Marc Forster, who displays a gentle, jocular side that?s rather surprising from the filmmaker who made the stark ?Monster?s Ball? and ?Everything Put Together?.

In softening his sensibilities, though, Forster loses none of the dramatic heft of his previous films, infusing ?Finding Neverland? with dark undertones and an air of fatalistic melancholy beneath its playful surface.

Adapted by screenwriter David Magee from Allan Knee?s play ?The Man Who Was Peter Pan?, ?Finding Neverland? traces the roots of the classic tale in the early 1900s.

Fresh from a London stage flop, playwright Barrie meets Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Winslet) and her four sons during a walk in the park. A chaste friendship ensues with the beautiful widow and her youngsters, including one named Peter (Freddie Highmore), a sober boy with an acute lack of childlike mischief.

These lost boys reinvigorate Barrie, who becomes both a paternal figure and a catalyst for their imaginations as he spins stories and engages them in games of cowboys and Indians and other fantasies.

Barrie, politely bound in a sterile marriage with wife Mary (Mitchell), finds a soul-mate connection in Sylvia, who is battling illness while trying to hold her family together.

The relationship strains Barrie?s marriage, while the spectacle of a married writer frolicking like a happy dad with a widow and her children does not sit well with Sylvia?s imperious mother (Christie) or London society.

Barrie is deaf to the gossip, save for his indignation when it?s insinuated his relationship with the boys might have sexual overtones (the movie never delves deeper into Barrie?s rumoured paedophilia).

Meantime, the writer?s producer (Hoffman) is flabbergasted when Barrie delivers a script with pirates, fairies, flying children, a guy in a dog suit and a boy whose spirit keeps him eternally young.

Of course, ?Peter Pan? becomes an instant hit. The film lovingly depicts opening night as Barrie?s tale of innocence and purity melts the hearts of stuffy London theatregoers.

Even more touching is a private rendition Barrie stages for Sylvia and her children, with Peter Pan (vibrantly played by Kelly Macdonald) opening the door on a world of wonder for the ailing widow and her boys.

The artful fantasy sequences crafted by Forster and his design team are hit and miss, sometimes reflecting the merriness of Peter Pan?s Neverland world, other times clashing with the broader drama.

While ?Finding Neverland? takes factual liberties (Sylvia?s husband did not die until three years after ?Peter Pan? premiered, for example), the film does provide an enchanting look at the power of dreams and the wellsprings of artistic inspiration.

The result is a family film for parents who want to expose their kids to something other than wisecracking cartoon characters, a story with heart, spirit and boundless faith in youth.

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