I agree that Snoke took me right out of the movie. And if you’re suggesting that they would have been better off going down the puppet route, I agree with that too. Yoda was so good they tried to get Frank Oz nominated for an Oscar but the academy wouldn’t have it.
I don’t care how the special effects team does it, they can use CGI or a puppet or a man in a mask or do whatever they want. My point was that you don’t want it to look fake. You don’t want people to roll their eyes and say “lifeless puppet” or “CGI” or “Halloween mask” etc!
I ask you this, though: has there been a single sci-fi/fantasy movie in the past fifteen years or so that featured a major character that wasn’t an actor in a costume that achieved this? I suppose Gollum would be the one, but my reaction to him was always more “Jesus, that’s impressive CGI” rather than “I can’t tell if that’s CGI”. He’s sort of the Yoda puppet of CGI. Effects almost always look like effects, that’s just the reality we’re in.
I will say I was disappointed in Snoke’s design, though. I’d have liked it if he was as disfigured as in the art book rather than dialed back a bit as he was.
Edit: I guess that Doug Jones in any given Guillermo del Toro movie achieves what I’m talking about, but that sort of rides the line between costume and puppet.