Marlon Brando, brilliant as he was, could be a real asshole at times. It's funny that he turned down the Oscar because he didn't like the way American-Indians were stereotyped by Hollywood, yet he had no qualms at all about propagating a negative Italian-American stereotype in his portrayal of Don Corleone.
You're assuming that most people who saw the movie came away with a negative (or at least completely negative) impression of Vito. I think that's highly questionable. I certainly didn't. My name on this board isn't VitoC for nothing!
