Check out all the hugging and embracing that's going on between the stars inside the Dolby Theater -- where it's all good vibes and lifted spirits ... a bit of a 180 compared to last year, when things ended on a sour note after Will Smith smacked Chris Rock.

That sort of dread that permeated in 2022 was no where to be found this time around. Instead we got celebs like Florence Pugh, Stephanie Hsu, The Rock, Austin Butler, James Hong, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keogan, Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Oh bringing it in close and showing major love -- all while looking incredibly dapper and elegant, no less.

There's a lot of celebrating to be done ... stars like Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan and others have already walked away with statuettes -- and everyone seems to be stoked.

On the issue of the slap itself, host Jimmy Kimmel took some time to address it during the broadcast -- making some jokes about the ugly moment at the top of the show, which went down well with the crowd. His takeaway message was ... keep your hands to yourself!

Welp, it looks like people are certainly doing that -- and if they are making contact, it's the touchy-feely type ... and not the other way around. That's all you can ask for 365 days later.