Animation movies have always been a big deal in Oscar race. However, as compared to previous years, there seems less competition in this niche category. The films which would be competing for the Oscar 2014 Best Animated film this year are Hayao Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises", Disney's "Frozen" "Monsters University,", "Despicable Me 2" and "The Croods".

Along with numerous other awards, Hayao Miyzaki has won the Academy Award for Best Animation picture, back in 2003 for his movie 'Spirited Away' and this time is the front runner in the Best Animation films with 'The Wind Rises'. The Wind Rises is a Japanese animated historical fantasy film based on short story by Tatsuo Hori. The film tells a story of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Mitsubishi A5M, who later devised its famous successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.

Owing to its strong script and well juxtaposed scenes, the film has been raved by the audience as well as critics. The amalgamation of magical realism and gentle mysticism are the two other things which have got Miyzaki's film first spot in the animated film race.

Coming to Disney's "Frozen", the animated feature tells the story of Anna who goes on a quest to find her elder sister. The movie is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale 'The Snow Queen' and has voices of Kristen Dunst. The film is scheduled to release on September 26. Till then we have to wait to comment on standing of movie in the competition.

Other three films, "Monster's University," "Despicable Me 2," and "The Croods" have got a mixed bag of comments. Despicable Me 1 already has an Academy Award to its credit so there are fair chances of it getting nominated for the Oscars 2014.