They are sometimes creepy, sometimes cuddly, and sometimes carnivorous. And they each take a dedicated team of artists, craftspeople, and performers to bring to life. Here are 20 movie creatures that we love.

Photo by Ben King/Warner Bros. PicturesNAME: Carol
MOVIE: Where the Wild Things Are

One of the many tree-smashing, rumpus-loving creatures that honors Max as their king. The costume was created through a combination of Henson Studios animatronics and computer effects.

NAME: Abe Sapien
MOVIE: Hellboy

Hellboy's psychic, gill-breathing special agent sidekick is played by Doug Jones under piles of latex and makeup.

NAME: Davy Jones
MOVIE: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest

The dreaded, tentacle-faced captain of the Flying Dutchman is actually just actor Bill Nighy and a lot of digital wizardry from Industrial Light and Magic.

NAME: Gollum (AKA Smeagol)
MOVIE: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Everyone's favorite jewelry-obsessed cave dweller is actually part actor Andy Serkis and part ground-breaking technology.

Photo by Paramount PicturesNAME: Hogsqueal
MOVIE: The Spiderwick Chronicles

This tooth-thieving hobgoblin is only one of numerous digitally-constructed characters in this movie.

Photo by Warner Brothers, WireImageNAME: Kreacher
MOVIE: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Sirius Black's ill-tempered house elf was originally cut from the movie until J.K. Rowling insisted that he be put back in.

NAME: The Creature
MOVIE: The Host

The creature that lurked in the Han river might have been accidentally created by a US military toxic spill in the movie, but in real life it was created by the folks at Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop.

NAME: Saphira
MOVIE: Eragon

The friendly, yet flammable, dragon Saphria was modeled on real-life creatures as varied as an eagle, a puppy, and a wildebeest.

Photo by Columbia/Kobal, WireImageNAME: Angry skeletons
MOVIE: Jason and the Argonauts

It took special effects maven Ray Harryhausen four months to put together this famous battle scene, even though it only lasted a mere three minutes on the screen.

Photo by ParamountNAME: Asterius
MOVIE: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

This movie featured over 1500 effects shots, including the creation of Prince Caspian's ally Asterius the Minotaur.

Photo by Universal/Kobal, WireImageNAMES: Jen and Kira
MOVIE: The Dark Crystal

The last of the gelfings, along with the evil Skeksis, star in this movie, the first live-action feature with no human actors in it.

Photo by Sony PicturesNAME: Crusoe
MOVIE: The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep

Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop made over 600 effects for this adorable sea creature who eventually ended up in Loch Ness.

Photo by 20th Century Fox/Kobal, WireImageNAME: Lord of Darkness
MOVIE: Legend

Tim Curry had some experience wearing makeup in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," but it wasn't anything like the complete encasement he underwent to become this demonic beast.

Photo by Lucas Films/20th Century Fox/Kobal, WireImageNAME: Jabba the Hutt
MOVIE: Return of the Jedi

The slug-like mob boss from Tatooine was actually a one-ton puppet that took three months and half-a-million dollars to construct and required three puppeteers to operate.

Photo by MGM/Kobal, WireImageNAME: Medusa
MOVIE: Clash of the Titans

The mythical grand dame of bad hair, Medusa, was, for this movie, yet another creation by special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen.

NAME: E.T.
MOVIE: E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

The visage of cinema's most lovable alien was modeled on the faces of Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein and a pug dog.

Photo by 20th Century Fox/Kobal, WireImageNAME: Alien
MOVIE: Alien

Designed by H.R. Giger, the Alien was a latex suit worn by 7'2" Bolaji Badejo, with a mechanical head that contained over 900 moving parts.

Photo by Toho/Kobal, WireImageNAME: Godzilla
MOVIE: Godzilla

Though director Ichiro Honda wanted to make "Godzilla" entirely in stop-motion animation, that proved to be too costly. So he went for the trademark stuntman in a rubber suit method.

NAME: King Kong
MOVIE: King Kong

Originally covered with rubber and rabbit fur, only the 22-inch tall metal skeleton of the original Kong is left. It's up for auction next month, and is expected to sell for a quarter of a million dollars.

NAME: Flying Monkeys
MOVIE: The Wizard of Oz

This movie just celebrated its 70th anniversary. That means at least five generations of children have been freaked-out by those creepy winged primates.