The following contains spoilers for Snow White, now playing in theatersSnow White makes a lot of changes to the original animated film. Disney Studios has spent the last decade updating many of their animated classics with live-action remakes. At their best, they’ve taken the established elements and played with them in new ways. The better elements of 2025’s Snow White follow suit, bringing new perspectives and fitting elements to the modernization of the 1937 classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The changes go far beyond Snow White‘s ending, however.

Snow White expands on the plot of the original and adds a lot of new elements to Snow White as a character. It also makes some pretty big changes to her main romantic interest, the supporting characters in the background, and even some of the iconic songs from the original. Here are the most notable changes between the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and 2025’s Snow White.

10

Snow White’s Name Gets A New Meaning

Snow’s Name Doesn’t Refer To Her Skin Color Anymore

Snow White makes a lot of changes from the exact plot of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, including the reason why the character was named Snow White in the first place. In the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Snow White was named that because her skin was “white as snow.” The 1937 film carried over that physical description, with Walt Disney Animation’s debut feature-length film imagining her as a young white woman with black hair.

Snow White cast Rachel Zegler in the тιтle role, who is of Polish and Colombian descent. This has been controversial in some conservative circles, given the original ethnicity of the character. In Snow White, the character gains her name as a result of being born during an intense snow storm. This is a minor tweak made to explain away a frequent element of the character, quickly making room for Zegler to deliver a stand-out performance.

9

Jonathan Is Snow White’s New Love Interest Instead Of The Prince

Jonathan Gets A Lot More To Do Than The Prince

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the love interest is the Prince. A handsome figure, the Prince plays little actual role in the plot of the film outside of falling in love with Snow during act 1 and then awakening her from the Evil Queen’s curse in the finale. The character is so flat, he doesn’t even have a clear name in the film. Instead, he’s been listed as Florian in some (but not all) tie-in material. The Prince is entirely absent from Snow White and replaced by Jonathan.

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Played by Andrew Burnap, Jonathan is a charming rogue who Snow meets while he stealing food from the castle. Established as a thief but later exposed as a desperate actor struggling to survive in the woods alongside the rest of his troupe, Jonathan plays a more important role in helping Snow White than the Prince did in the original film. Jonathan and Snow also get more scenes together, making their eventual romance more fulfilling.

8

The Dwarfs Get An Origin & Power

The Dwarfs Are A Fully Magical Race Now

The Dwarfs don’t have much of a backstory in Disney’s animated version of Snow White, instead serving as friendly miners in the woods who eventually prove willing to take in Snow because of her beauty and kindness. The dwarfs don’t take over much of the plot of Snow White, but they do get some expanded attributes and elements. In the new film, they are confirmed to be a fantastical race separate from humans, capable of living centuries without visibly aging.

[The Dwarfs] backstory is used to justify their mistrust of humans, explaining why they’ve remained a secret in the woods for centuries.

The dwarfs are also shown to possess the power to conjure a light from within their bodies and spread it through rock and stone to locate precious stones. This aids them in their mining of the caverns for jewels, as shown during Snow White‘s version of “Heigh-Ho.” The power ultimately doesn’t play much of a role in the film, but their backstory is used to justify their mistrust of humans, explaining why they’ve remained a secret in the woods for centuries.

7

Dopey Can Actually Talk This Time

Dopey Is Actually The Narrator Of Snow White

Dopey began a long-standing tradition in Disney animated films to focus on largely silent characters. Dopey quickly became one of the most iconic characters of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, his silly innocence and bashful commitment to Snow making him an instantly charming addition to the cultural lexicon. For the most part, the Dopey of Snow White fills a similar role, although he’s made more sympathetic.

Dopey had no dialogue in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and has typically been portrayed in other Disney media as a voiceless character.

His silence is reimagined as a genuine character trait that the other Dwarfs comment on and mock him for. Snow teaching him to whistle is what earns his loyalty. Dopey actually gets a speaking voice in the third act, where he’s performed by Andrew Barth Feldman. Dopey delivers an affirmation that the Dwarfs will help Snow stand up to the Evil Queen. Dopey even turns out to have been the narrator of the film all along in the finale, meaning audiences had been hearing him speak all along.

6

The Fate Of The King Is Different

An Ambiguous End In The Original Is Confirmed In The Live-Action Remake

Snow White’s father is one of the minor background figures in the original animated film who gets a little bit more focus in Snow White. Hadley Fraser appears as the Good King in the film’s first musical number, “Good Things Grow,” which details Snow’s early life and how her grieving father fell for the Evil Queen after the tragic pᴀssing of his wife. After being tricked by the Evil Queen into leading a campaign against a threat to the south, he is lost. Although Snow briefly believes he may still be alive, the Evil Queen reveals he is long ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.

The Good King does not appear formally in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, although a live-action musical adaptation that debuted in 1969 made the King into a more important character.

This could be seen as confirmation of a long-standing fan theory regarding the King from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The King is only said to have died by the main events of that film, leaving the Evil Queen to rule in his stead. While it’s never confirmed what he died of in that film, some tie-in material over the years (as well as several fan theories) suggested the Queen killed him to steal the throne. This is codified in Snow White when the Evil Queen mocks Snow with the confirmation of his death.

5

Snow White Replaces Classic Songs With New Ones

Snow White Has A Lot Of New Musical Numbers

Snow White utilizes the fact that it stars Rachel Zegler, one of Hollywood’s biggest modern musical stars. Several of the songs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appear in the film, with some sung by Zegler. However, there are a few songs from the original that didn’t make it to the new film, which instead brought on Benj Pasek and Justin Paul to pen a number of new tracks for the film, turning it into more of a fully fledged musical.

While some songs like “Heigh-Ho” and “Whistle While You Work” appear in both films, Snow White expands them as a means of adding more personality to the Dwarfs. Snow White also introduces a lot more staples of traditional musical structure, such as replacing “I’m Wishing” with “Waiting On A Wish” to give Snow more agency, giving the Evil Queen her own song, and building the romance between Snow and Jonathan through multiple songs.

4

“Fairest In The Land” Takes On A New Meaning

Changing The Mirror Alters The Moral Of The Story

One consistent element between both films is the idea that the Evil Queen is murderously jealous of Snow because she’s becoming a more beautiful woman than her, gradually turning into “the fairest of the land.” This plays into the vanity that is central to both the animated and live-action versions of the villain. However, the Evil Queen of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs didn’t need much extra motivation to lash out at the young woman in her charge.

That’s been changed for Snow White, which plays with the concept. While the Evil Queen is defined by her beauty and vanity, Snow being named “the fairest in the land” also undercuts the Evil Queen’s rule. Snow White’s empathy and capability as a unifying force, in contrast to the cruel leadership of the Evil Queen, makes her a much more fair ruler. This plays into the Mirror’s statements about the “fairest in the land,” pushing the Evil Queen to lash out.

3

The Evil Queen Dies Differently In Live-Action

The Evil Queen Doesn’t Make It Out Of Either Movie

The Evil Queen is the villain both versions of Snow White, but notably dies differently in each film. In the 1937 film, the Evil Queen is able to poison Snow White, but only barely get ahead of the vengeful dwarfs. When she tries to set up an ambush to kill them, a lightning strike sends the Queen plummeting off the side of a mountain to her death. In Snow White, the Evil Queen is killed when she lashes out at the Magic Mirror and shatters it.

While her actual death only occurred off-screen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs — symbolized by the pair of vultures descending where she fell — the Evil Queen dies on-screen in Snow White. While the magical glᴀss shards surround her, the Evil Queen is reduced to ash and crumbles before Snow White’s eyes. Her remains are then dragged to the other side of the Magic Mirror, raising numerous questions about the new version of that object.

2

Snow White’s Ending Is Completely Different

Snow White Invents An Entirely New Third Act

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ends with the Evil Queen already ᴅᴇᴀᴅ and the dwarfs overjoyed by the Prince proving capable of bringing Snow back to life with a kiss. However, that’s only the beginning of Snow White‘s climax, which carries on for some time before reaching a similar happy conclusion. After awakening Snow White with “true love’s kiss,” Jonathan joins Snow and the Dwarfs as they make their way back to the kingdom.

Snow is able to rally the people behind her and even convinces the Evil Queen’s army to lay down their arms, leading the the Queen to angrily confront the Mirror and get herself killed. Snow is made the ruler of the kingdom, which celebrates a return to prosperity. It builds off the plot beats established earlier in the film and completes Snow White’s evolution into a fair ruler.

1

Snow White’s Arc Is Updated For Modern Times

Snow White Gives Snow A Much Bigger Storyline

Snow White is a through modernization of the original story, giving the тιтular character a far more fleshed out set of motivations. Instead of singing longingly for a Prince to love, Snow White aspires to be the kind of leader her parents taught her to respect. While she is quick to help others, she’s more willing to call out people (such as Jonathan and the Dwarfs) over their faults than the original version, speaking to the agency modern women are afforded that people in the 1930s weren’t as accustomed to.

This is a far cry from the original Snow White…

Snow’s arc is given a political undercurrent, with the character have a very clear view on the societal importance of being a good person and opening up to one’s neighbor. This is a far cry from the original Snow White, who was an innocent figure to the point of naivety. Snow White gives Snow a lot more personality and agency, updating her character arc and eventual actualization to fit a modern perspective.