Well, from what I have read, there has been a great degree of re-appraising the Anglo-Saxons. In my Oxford Anglo-Saxon Anthology, Kevin Crossley-Holland (the translator, commentator and editor of the book) says that they were the most sophisticated pre-Conquest people in Europe (perhaps except the Byzantines!). I mean, from the extracts of poems and epics I have read, like Deor, Waldere, Beowulf and other bits, they don't come across as savages, but as a rather interesting bunch of people.
I think their reputation is down to a lack of evidence for them and Norman propaganda/destruction of said evidence!
Also, the metal-work they produced - astounding. Any people who had the means and ability to produce poems like Deor, metalwork like the Staffordshire Hoard and a state like that of Alfred the Great's is certainly a pretty cool civilization and culture. It's a real shame there is not much more on them in popular history books, or even general brief histories. Mind you, they have more works on them than the poor pre-migration/invasion Romano-Britons.
