This is an interesting attempt with better acting than some daytime television. The problem is not the acting, necessarily. It is the details that surround everything. The military shows up, and the fellow says he is a colonel. His rank shows him to be a SFC. There is no unit patch, no name tag. These are just uniforms picked up before being issued. Very basic. Soldiers don't wear covers, just wander around. Things just don't match up with the show. There are parts where you could excuse it, and say it's a kids movie, but the lack of effort is so obvious. They just seem to have gone down to the local Michael's store to buy equipment for the scenes. Just too many holes. I have seen worse (Trollz), but this is a low.
I apologize. This is an Australian film, which actually makes more sense. The bad attempt at American dialect, the subpar acting, the storyline that doesn't hold together. If you've watched Australian mermaid movies on Netflix, this is right in line.