20 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Minions
8. DM2 Is Inspired By A Sylvester & Tweety Short
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTocaV3LCGwThe "Evil Minions" in Despicable Me 2 are the linchpin of El Macho's nefarious plan for world domination, but they have their origins in a Looney Toons short from 1960, "Hyde and Go Tweet." And that short was itself inspired, more obviously, by Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The key ingredient in all three is the transformation of something mild-mannered and basically harmless into a hideous, brutish monster. Tweety Bird, though, was also yellow and tiny, like a Minion, only more useless and obnoxious.
Despicable Me 2 added a color change, making the Evil Minions purple, because purple is on the opposite side of the color wheel from yellow.