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I don't think that he's under rated at all. He's rated right where he should be, which is in the top 5% of directors(as certain things can be very arbitrary after directors like Ford, Hitchcock, Lang, and Buñuel) of all time. He's prolific and sometimes caters to the studios a bit too much, but that is usually so that he can do a film that he truly wants to do(like him doing teh two jurassic parks so that he could do schinlders list).
He has always been a general model of consistency, but I don't think that he's hit some of the highs that other influential directors have, inversely though, he hasn't missed as badly as godard has on a few films. At TSPDT he is given an 8+ for a director rating, and I've seen him as high as a 9, that speaks for his respect as there are only 4 or 5 directors that have recieved a ten, and some extremely influential directors taht are at an 8 (
Here is the rating guide for a reference point). Now, I'm not saying that TheyShootPictures is the be all end all, but it's one of the few film sites that I go to that I respect as they bring in as much outside data to make their decisions on ranking so that not everything is based on their own two opinions. I'd really challenge people who watch a lot of film to disagree with where his placement is IRT other directors who are ahead of him. I think he is rated very fairly as he is put in the same range as Altman and Kurosawa (and again, this is where he hasn't hit the heights of either two, but didn't reach the lows considering how prolific he is)
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I agree with this assessment, although I contend the point about Spielberg making two Jurassic Parks in order to get the funding to do a Schindler's list. The budget for Schindler's list was a mere $25,000,000 which is chump change for him.
Spielberg's current net worth is estimated at 3 Billion dollars. He could easily make 10 huge budget movies out of his own pocket and still be filthy rich. That is why I think it is fair to question his artistic intent and skill. A number of the great directors are known to have died relatively broke from funding their movies (DW Griffith and Jacques Tati come to mind). I think Spielberg lacks this artistic drive, and has only himself to blame for criticism.