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?
Yes, the CGI T-Rex in Jurassic Park 1 looked pretty real. The T-1000 in Terminator 2 looked great as well, and the effect hasn’t really aged that much either.
Snoke looks like he was designed purely as a children’s toy. SW is all about merchandising, Disney cares much more about the billions in toy sales that they’ll be making over the next two years than the 1 billion or whatever from the box office.
The CGI lion in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was pretty good and had a minute budget in comparison. I didn’t have a problem with Snoke as we only saw a hologram (which is CGI anyway), I think it was the least of this film’s problems, think script!