The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced on Sunday that Isao Takahata and Studio Ghibli's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya won its award for Best Animation of 2014. The runner-up was Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's The Lego Movie (Warner Bros. Pictures).

Last year, Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, and Benjamin Renner's Ernest & Celestine won the association's Best Animation award, with Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli's The Wind Rises as the runner-up. Both films earned Oscar nominations, but lost to Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee's Frozen from Disney.

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya is based on the famous Japanese folktale Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), which centers on a princess named Kaguya who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. GKIDS is currently screening the film in several North American theaters.

The film won the Animation Film Award at the 68th Mainichi Film Awards. The film was screened at Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight but did not receive any awards. It is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film for the eighth Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA). For the 42nd Annual Annie Awards, it received nominations in three categories: Best Animated Feature, Takahata for "Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production," and film composer Joe Hisaishi for "Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production."

Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, The 5th Wave) stars as the title character in the English dub. The cast also includes James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, Beau Bridges, James Marsden, Oliver Platt and Dean Cain.

[Via Justin Chang, Variety]