Peter Pan, Grand Theatre, Leeds

Any new production of Peter Pan has expectations to meet. How good is the crocodile? What about the flying scenes, the magic? David Nixon's version for Northern Ballet Theatre does well in those tests, but can it persuade us that JM Barrie's story makes a good ballet?

In fact, the best choreography comes with the flying. Peter Pan (Christian Broomhall) makes his entrance on wires, swooping in and out of the tall windows of Peter Mumford's nursery set. He climbs all over the furniture, stopping at gravity-defying angles. He uses the same vocabulary of jumps and little springs, keeping the idea of flight even when he's on the ground. When the children too start to fly, they push each other into practice dips and spins.

It's fun, but it doesn't know when to stop. On opening night, the flight to Neverland was delayed by scenery trouble, but I suspect it was overlong to start with. Stephen Warbeck's new score is a cheerful cue for action, but it doesn't give the evening much drive or shape.

As a choreographer, Nixon is very good at putting the details of a plot across. He's weaker on pure dance ideas, and his characterisations are limited. Peter is bouncy but lacks vulnerability. The other children dance their moments of fear or loss, but they're generalised - just enough to make the story clear, and no more. Jonathan Ollivier makes a dashing Captain Hook, but he needs more steps to make a real impact.

For Barrie's most celebrated scene, Nixon just gives up. As in the play, Tinker Bell is dying, and can only be saved if the audience agrees to applaud, to believe in fairies. How do you explain that in dance? Here, Peter turns to the audience and speaks, urging us to clap. At once, the mood is broken. "They're talking," said a child sitting close to me, in mild surprise. How can we believe in fairies, when Nixon lacks faith in his own art form?

The dancing is surrounded with good production ideas. Most of the magic is done in full view, with animals and Tinker Bell worked by dancers in black. Tinker Bell is a puppet with soft, fluttering wings and stiff jerky limbs - surprisingly effective in suggesting the character's energy and spite. I loved the crocodile, a plump, scaly creature with huge jaws and glowing red eyes. Two dancers carry it overhead, moving its feet in a swaggering, waggling walk.

A water scene includes a whole corps de ballet of mermaids. Nixon dresses them in tight, shiny skirts with finny ruffles at the ankle. When Peter and Wendy are trapped by the rising tide, it's all done through Mumford's lighting: waves of green and blue lapping across the stage, flowing higher and higher.

The dancers can't bring much depth to this ballet, but they give quick, eager performances. Pippa Moore is a soft, light Wendy. Christopher Hinton-Lewis and Simon Kidd are boisterous as her brothers.

To 31 December (0113-222 6222), then touring