Whatever the fine detail of the argument in terms of time on screen. I think what is being said is that objectively speaking, a bunch of nomadic Santa's elves with fairy lights for eyes sqeaking "Utini!" might just be considered less imposing than a tribe of war-like man-eating voodoo bears ;-)

That being said, I don't have a problem with Ewoks, Jawas or Ugnaughts (Just Gungans), they are all fun little creatures that belong in the fun Star Wars universe.

and yes as has ben said many times the Ewoks do not defeat the Emperor's best troops, the Rebels best troops do that. The Ewoks merely get massacred causing a diversion.