The films of Michael Crichton

After the pure joy that marked last night's historic events, I awoke to sadness this morning after finding out about the death of an author who defined my childhood, Michael Crichton. When I was in Jr. High I read every single novel he ever wrote, and I continued to read his new ones, even if they weren't quite at the level of his previous work. Because of the entertaining, fast-paced nature of his novels, they seemed perfectly adaptable to film, but, alas, these adaptations rarely worked. Still, here is a complete overview of the Crichton adaptations that I have seen, from worst to best (rated out of ****):
Timeline (Donner '03) 0 Stars: I think this was one of his best novels, and I was disgusted by this adaptation. They ruined the plot, got rid of some characters and overly simplified the rest and really did nothing good at all.
Sphere (Levinson '98) *: I think this may be his best novel outside of Jurassic Park, and for the film version they essentially made it into a cheap version of The Abyss. This is not the type of film that Levinson should make, and the performances were surprisingly weak.
Jurassic Park 3 (Johnson '01) *1/2: Not technically based off of one of his novels (which explains the god-awful story), but close enough to make this list. Despite how incredibly bad a film this was, I'm still mildly excited for JP4
Andromeda Strain (Salomon '08) **: I haven't seen the original adaptation, but I did see this year's dull, uninspired miniseries. This story simply should not have been a Scott Brothers production. It's just not their type of thing
Congo/13th Warrior **: I put them together because I know I saw them and disliked them, but I don't remember enough to actually make a distinction.
The Lost World (Spielberg '97) **1/2: This movie shouldn't be near the top of any list, but, unfortunately, it is here. This sequel took away the fun and wonder of the original and made a meaningless thriller by taking away all but the most basic elements of the sequel that Crichton wrote.
Jurassic Park (Spielberg '93) ***1/2: Is it a little silly and simple at times? Sure, but that doesn't mean that it can't be one of the most entertaining and impressive films ever made. The only really successful adaptation of any of his novels

Special mention: ER: NBC's long running hit may have never recovered from the departure of Anthony Edwards, and it really should of ended the second Noah Wyle left, but it's one of the most popular and important shows of its generation, and it was a great show for those first eight years, and Crichton deserves a lot of credit for creating it.