'Coco' wins animated feature Oscar

LOS ANGELES - "Coco," the colorful adventure into the land of the dead from Walt Disney Co's Pixar Animation Studios, won the Oscar on Sunday for best animated feature film.

The story of family, memory and legacy follows a boy named Miguel who finds himself in the land of the dead during the Mexican celebration of the Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

"With 'Coco' we tried to take a step forward toward a world where all children can grow up seeing characters in movies that look and talk and live like they do," Lee Unkrich, one of the film's directors, said in accepting the award.

"Marginalised people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters."

It was Pixar's ninth Oscar in the animated feature category.

In the film, the boy named Miguel meets his ancestors and learns how the memories of the living help keep the legacies of the dead alive.

The film was co-directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina, who said they were careful to reflect Mexican culture and beliefs "in a story free of cliche and stereotype," and drew on the experiences of their Latino and Mexican colleagues.

"Coco" was a box office smash for Disney-Pixar, raking in more than US$700 million (S$923 million) worldwide.