"Happy Feet" wins Oscar for best animated feature

LOS ANGELES, Feb 26 (Reuters) Australian-US hit ''Happy Feet'' won the Academy Award for best animated feature.

The story about a dancing penguin in Antarctica won over rivals ''Cars'' and ''Monster House.'' ''Happy Feet'' was a box office hit, grossing about 363 million dollars worldwide. The film was a joint venture of Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros. Pictures and Australia's Village Roadshow Ltd.

''Happy Feet'' winning director George Miller was previously nominated but did not win the Oscar for writing the screenplay for 1992's ''Lorenzo's Oil.'' And in 1996, he was nominated for writing and producing 1995's children's barnyard fantasy, ''Babe.'' REUTERS SHB ND0842