It's no secret that Walt Disney made several changes to several of the Grimm Brothers' tales. So many that authors like Jack Zipes have claimed the animator destroyed the meaning behind each fairy tale. However, they have both similarities to the source material and various changes.

Let's begin with its similarities. The Queen has the same motivation as in the tale. She is jealous of Snow White. This jealousy is due to a magic mirror claiming that her step-daughter/daughter is more
beautiful than her. In both versions, the Queen then orders a huntsman to kill Snow White. He attempts to follow these orders but allows the princess to run off, bringing back animal parts to fool the Queen. The movie and story both contain Snow White going on to live in a cottage with seven dwarfs. She, in the movie as well as the tale, does housework for the little men. Everything from cleaning to cooking. The Queen, upon learning that the princess is still alive, makes herself look like an old peddler woman. She proceeds to offer Snow White an apple. This poisoned fruit caused the heroine to die. When the dwarfs find the princess in both versions, they put her in a glass casket, where she is surrounded by animals. Lastly, both versions end the same way. A prince comes for Snow White. When she wakes up, he takes the princess with him to his castle, where they live happily ever after. However, regardless of these matches, the film and story have various differences.

To start, the prince in the film meets Snow White in the beginning. This introduction leads the princess to have romantic thoughts about the man throughout the movie. In the Grimm's telling, however, he is a stranger. He just happens to ride through the area when the dwarfs are mourning the beautiful young woman. On the same note, the prince does not kiss her awake. He has the dead woman carried, where an accidental movement pops the apple out of her throat. In other words, Disney focuses more on a romantic aspect, whereas the Brothers Grimm have the princess saved through coincidence. The animation also puts more attention to magical interference. The original tale features the evil queen using her own mortal abilities to kill Snow White. Disney, on the other hand, has the Queen using supernatural powers. Rather than simply dressing herself up as an old woman, she turns herself into one through a magic spell. The story does not tell you where the Queen got the poisoned apple. In the film, she is shown making it in a witch's cauldron. By giving her these abilities, as well as having her use them in jealousy, the audience is made clear of the Queen's role as the villain of the movie. The story simply does so by making her vain and jealous of the princess. The Disney film even cuts out the Queen's other two attempts to kill Snow White. In the tale, she tries three times to kill the princess. First, she attempts to murder the heroine by tying a fabric tightly, to the point of suffocation. Second, she combs Snow White with a poisoned hairbrush. Finally, she poisons the princess with an apple, killing her. The movie only shows the Queen using an apple. In other words, the movie quickens the process in which the Queen kills Snow White.

Whether or not the Disney corporation destroyed the Grimm's tales are the same in some ways, as well as different in others.