THE phrase `all that glisters is not gold' could easily apply to the Hippo's lavish seasonal offering.

There's no shortage of talent, sparkling costumes and jaw-dropping special effects, but I'm afraid it doesn't make up for the lack of good old-fashioned panto humour.

For me, Peter Pan always seems an odd choice because there's no boy meets girl romance involved and JM Barrie's story is somewhat short of laughs anyway.

The first half was as stodgy as an over-cooked sponge pudding.

Joe Pasquale, who was superb in last year's production of Jack and the Beanstalk, had few really good gags to get his teeth into as the hapless Smee and the only one who drew any sort of panto-style reaction from the audience was the excellent Peter Blake as Captain Hook.

Kerris Pelling was an energetic and lovely-looking Peter Pan but her speaking voice was so high-pitched and irritating I wanted to throw her to the (sadly under-used) crocodile.

Thankfully, the second half was a massive improvement, thanks largely to Mina Anwar as the Mermaid with a thick northern accent and the four kids dragged out of the audience for the traditional finale.

One of the problems for me was that all of the songs were originals, when what I really wanted was to tap my feet to cover versions and pop songs.

Toby Hull and Emu did little to earn their billing - let's be honest, the bird has a limited repertoire - and, overall, the show lacked the magic and feel-good feeling I'd come to expect from a Hippo biggie.

TP