He's been making movies since 1984. Thirty two years. And except for the Disney Pirates series no two of them had performances that were at all alike. He's not to everyone's taste but in everything he's done he takes over every scene. And the films he's made that are memorable are so because of his performance (with the possible exception of Martin Landau's tour de force as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood ... that was classic).
I agree. He's really quite a fine actor, especially when he plays more restrained roles. He was incredible in "Benny & Joon." I've really enjoyed his work with Tim Burton. I rather liked the first Alice movie, and I'm looking forward to renting "Through the Looking Glass." And he was great in "Ed Wood," but as you said, ML owned that movie.
Mark