I wrote my own physics based platform behaviour for Umbra. It was challenging... However, that started as more of an experiment before it took on a life of its own. The physics engine is not expensive on performance (desktop) and there's nothing wrong with using physics and platform behaviours together on screen, as long as you don't use them together (against each other) to try to move objects around. It all depends on what effect you want to create.
Edit: assign physics and solid to families, and use hidden sprites to assign the behaviours to complex/static objects. Just a suggestion...