That's the spirit.

I'm really surprised Lucas didn't do this.

Lets be frank the Ewoks, the Gungans and the Neimodians are place holders for the sort of ethnic exotica that used to be found in travelogue adventure serials like Tarzan, Fu Manchu and the original Kong.

Ewoks aren't cannibal black people (they only eat aliens) but the drums, the spears etc

The trappings are there but shifted in such a way that they aren't as racially worrying as those classic stories look to modern eyes (Jar-Jar maybe should have been a bit more shifted but I digress).

Even Jabba is a filtered version of the fat sultan characters in Scherazade adaptations.

Leia in actual peril might be impossible to do and would possibly be sexist overkill after the metal bikini and all but hinting at it with a cut to the trappings of sacrifice (enough for the audience to get the idea)

If it was foreshadowed by something like

could give the Ewoks a bit more umph!.

If Luke used the Force against their 'sacrificial engine' (monster/idol/altar) it would cement Threepio's divine influence more than just floating in the air (the baddies can do that at speed on their bikes so the Ewoks wouldn't be impressed).