YMMV / Journey Beyond Sodor

• Broken Base: The film has become rather divisive among fans. Mostly due to an increased amount of bouncing in the animation, along with maintaining the musical aspect of The Great Race, as well as Thomas once again having the main focus. There's also its playing with railway realism a lot more than Season 20, which had been praised for retaining Season 19's humor while returning to more realistic plots. Others however see it as a massive improvement over The Great Race by virtue of its more dramatic story, having a stronger focus on its new characters, and featuring more of the mainland at long last.
• Padding: Beresford appears in three scenes: stopping Thomas from passing through in "Who's Thomas", hiding Thomas high up from Hurricane and Frankie, and briefly during "The Most Important Thing Is Being Friends". Nothing that is said or occurs during the first scene or his appearance during the third scene has any effect on the plot, and the second could easily have been substituted for Thomas hiding behind something big enough to cover him, while still letting him see that James is following Hurricane and Frankie.
• Refrain from Assuming: "We Can't Do Anything" is sometimes referred to as "What Can't We Do".