A character is only ever as smart as the writer
I’m jot here to get into the discussion about Azula’s appearance and whether or not it matches the show enough, I for my part think the actress played the part well and was a good choice for the role, the real issue with live action Azula however is the writing.
Live Action Azula lacks all the cunning of her original counterpart and the scheme to take Ba Sing Se my just be one of the dumbest plots ever conceived by a fictional character. Genuinely what was her plan to take Ba Sing Se? First of all she should’ve just gotten caught at the outer wall, the reason they could infiltrate Ba Sing Se in the show is that nobody there knew what the Kyoshi warriors looked like, but in the live action version, Azula’s group are greeted at the perimeter wall by the very officer who captured and is now employing the real Kyoshi warriors and so would have an accurate head count of who they were and what they looked like. But aside from that what was the idea here??? After getting in, she immediately proceeds to blow her cover by killing a Dai Lee agent, gets caught and I guess just hopes the person who processes her is the leader of the organisation. Which then once that happens, she instantly reveals all her cards to Long Feng and so gives up all her bargaining power in return for nothing? Long Feng even points out her blunders and then he still proceeds to fall for it??? In the original show this worked cause Long Feng had lost his power and standing with the King and so had something to gain by allying with Azula and even then was planning to double cross her, but here Long Feng is very much still in control, Azula has absolutely nothing to offer him AND he already has Azula, the princess and only heir of the nation that’s threatening to take his city in custody, along with the general who’s leading the army 😂. Long Feng is holding all the cards. The show never even plays the angle of him simply using Azula as a hostage to stop the fire nation from ever attacking. This is one of the worst schemes I’ve ever seen and yet somehow the narrative bends over backwards to make Azula come out on top.