CHARACTER STUDY These legal aliens (the outer-space kind) are long, tall, cool, caffeinated freaks. Sleeble, Neeble, Geeble, and Mannix, as we've come to know them, have cushy (and presumably high-paying) jobs with the Men in Black. They also crash in the coolest bachelor pad in CG land, and display more machismo than Vince McMahon and the entire WWE.

SOUND BYTE ''Once you've had worm, it's what you'll yearn.''

WHY WE LOVE THEM Director Barry Sonnenfeld's no dummy. For ''Men in Black II'' (2002), he expands the roles of fan favorites Frank the Pug and this foursome of CG-puppet hybrids. While Agents Jay and Kay save the world, these witty scene-stealers save the tiring franchise.