The animated feature film WALL-E has won Best Picture of the Year at the 34th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) Awards.

It follows the story of a robot named WALL-E who is designed to clean up a polluted planet Earth, and while trying to complete the task falls in love.

Director Andrew Stanton talked about the importance of an animated movie winning a best film honour at an awards show.

He said: "It's huge for us, huge. Well, I mean we've been trying since Toy Story to just make a film, and not have the word animated suddenly stick it in a different box. I mean to us, it's no different than choosing black and white or colour on something. So, that shouldn't dictate the content. And, it's nice to just finally break the glass ceiling."

Slumdog Millionaire continued its winning streak with British director Danny Boyle being named by LAFCA as Best Director.

Boyle said the key to being a good director is surrounding oneself with good people.

He said: "That's 98.70 per cent of it. It really is. I mean most of it's casting, to be honest. Getting the right cast. And then it's picking the right team to go with that cast. Putting them together, creating a harmony. That's the job."

Waltz With Bashir won Best Animated Film.

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