`MONSTERS, INC.' MONSTER MASH.

Pixar animator Pete Docter knew two things for certain when he was a child: His toys came to life when he turned his back and a menagerie of monsters lived in his closet. Since the Pixar gang has already done the plaything thing with the ``Toy Story'' movies, Docter decided it was high time to open the closet and see what creatures lurked inside.

``Monsters, Inc.'' imagines that beasties harness kids' screams for power, and now that kids are jaded and don't scare so easily, the monster world is undergoing an energy crisis. Another revelation: Monsters are more afraid of kids than kids are of them.

``They think children have cooties,'' says Docter, who directed the movie.

Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi head the vocal cast, but the attractions, of course, are the monsters themselves, which come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

``We looked at nature and then put in our own little twists,'' Docter says. ``Probably the scariest of the bunch is Randall, a chameleon with those creepy eyes that move independently. Kids find him really scary because he can blend into anything so they never know where he is.''

Sounds like a cool toy - but we'd probably keep losing it.

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(color) One-eyed Mike Wzowski (voice of Billy Crystal), left, and furry James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) tackle a frightful energy crisis in ``Monsters, Inc.'' (Nov. 2)